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THE  CHURCH'S 


MINISTRY  OF  GRACE 


Xecturee 

DELIVERED    IN    1 892    UNDER    THE    AUSPICES    OF    THE 
CHURCH    CLUB    OF    NEW    YORK 


WITH    APPENDICES 


NEW  YORK 
E.  &   J.  B.  YOUNG   &   CO. 

COOPER  UNION,  FOURTH  AVENUE 
1893 


LOAN  STACK 


Copyrighted,  1892, 
By  E.  &  J.  B.  Young  &  Co. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


LECTURE   I. 

BAPTISM 3 

By  the  Rev.   W.   Clark,  M.A.,  LL.D.,  Professor  of 

Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy,  in  Trinity  College^ 

Toronto,  Canada. 

LECTURE   II. 

THE   LORD^S    SUPPER 39 

By  the  Rev.  George  McClellan  Fiske,  D.D.,  Rectoi  of 
St.  Stephen's  Church,  Providence,  R.I. 

LECTURE    III. 

CONFIRMATION 131 

By  the  Very  Rev.  Wilford  L.  Robbins,  D.D.,  Dean  of 
All  Saints'  Cathedral,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

LECTURE    IV. 

HOLY  ORDERS 161 

By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Alex.  Chas.  Garrett,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
Bishop  of  Northern  Texas. 

LECTURE   V. 

UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,   AND  PENANCE 205 

By  the  Rt.  Rev.  Chas.  C.  Grafton,  S.  T.D.,  Bishop  of 
Fond  du  Lac. 


958 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  lectures  contained  In  this  volume 
are  in  continuation  of  those  of  1891, 
which  dealt  with  the  fundamental  truths  of 
revealed  religion  as  distinguished  from  those 
of  natural  religion,  and  were  suggested  by 
the  last  lecture  in  that  course  on  ''  Grace 
and  the  Sacramental  System  ;  "  in  truth  these 
lectures  are  but  an  amplification  of  it,  and  it 
may  be  regarded  as  introductory  to  them. 

The  subjects  treated  in  this  volume 
under  the  general  title  of  "  The  Church's 
Ministry  of  Grace,"  are  Baptism,  The  Holy 
Eucharist,  Confirmation,  Holy  Orders,  Holy 
Matrimony,  Penance,  and  Unction,  that  is  to 
say,  those  two  Sacraments  which  are  stated 
in  the  Catechism  to  be  generally  necessary 
to    salvation — Sacraments    of    the    Gospel, 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

Greater  Sacraments  as  they  are  sometimes 
called — and  five  Sacramental  rites,  or  as  they 
have  been  described,  the  ecclesiastical  Sacra- 
ments, or  sometimes  also  the  five  lesser 
Sacraments. 

Whether  they  be  called  rites  or  Sacra- 
ments would  seem  to  be  a  mere  contention 
about  words  ;  as  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
they  are  ordinances  of  God  for  the  convey- 
ance of  spiritual  grace,  and  that  in  the  service 
for,  or  the  administration  of,  each,  an  outward 
sign  or  form  is  prescribed  or  used  and  an 
inward  grace  spoken  of. 

If  Saint  Augustine's  description  of  a  Sac- 
rament, referred  to  in  the  Homilies,  be  ac- 
cepted, as  comprising  "a  visible  sign  of  an 
invisible  grace,"  *  the  five  rites  may  properly 
be  called  Sacraments ;  but  if  the  outward 
sign  must  have  been  ordained  by  Christ 
Himself  and  expressly  commanded  in  the 
New  Testament,  then  only  Baptism  and  the 
Eucharist  are  Sacraments. 

*  Homily  on  Common  Prayer  and  Sacraments,  p.  374. 


<C'  r-' 


IlSrTRODUCTION.  VU 

The  XXV  Article  of  Religion,  following 
very  ancient  authority,  accords  special  honor 
and  pre-eminence  to  those  two  Sacraments 
which  according  to  the  Fathers  flowed  from 
the  riven  side  of  Christ,  but  does  not  deny 
that  the  other  five,  "  commonly  called  Sacra- 
ments," are  in  some  sense  Sacraments,  but 
only  that  they  are  Sacraments  of  the  Gospel. 
The  Article  says  of  the  five  that  they  "have 
not  the  like  nature  of  Sacraments  with  Bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  Supper  for  that  they 
have  not  any  visible  sign  or  ceremony  or- 
dained by  God."  The  difference  between 
them  and  the  two  greater  Sacraments,  as  laid 
down  in  the  Article,  does  not  relate  to  the 
inward  grace  but  to  the  outward  form.  The 
Homilies,  speaking  of  Absolution,  point  out 
the  same  distinction.  We  read  in  the  H  omily 
on  Common  Prayer  and  Sacraments,  "  For 
although  Absolution  hath  the  promise  of  for- 
giveness of  sin,  yet  by  the  express  word  of 
the  New  Testament  it  hath  not  this  promise 
annexed  and  tied  to  the  visible  sign,  which  is 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

imposition  of  hands.  For  this  visible  sign,  I 
mean,  laying  on  of  hands,  is  not  expressly 
commanded  in  the  New  Testament  to  be 
used  in  Absolution,  as  the  visible  signs  in 
Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  are  ;  and 
therefore  Absolution  is  no  such  Sacrament 
as  Baptism  and  the  Communion  are."  * 

In  the  Homily  against  Swearing  and  Per- 
jury, we  read  that  **  the  Sacrament  of  Matri- 
mony knitteth  man  and  wife  in  perpetual 
love,"f  and  in  that  on  Common  Prayer  and 
Sacraments,  referring  to  Ordination,  that 
"  neither  it  nor  any  other  Sacrament  else  be 
such  Sacraments  as  Baptism  and  the  Com- 
munion are.  But  in  a  general  acception  the 
name  of  a  Sacrament  may  be  attributed  to 
anything  whereby  an  holy  thing  is  signified.  "J 

Whether  they  be  described  as  Sacra- 
ments or  as  Sacramental  rites  then,  is  a  mat- 
ter of  definition  and  is  immaterial,  as  they 

*  Homily  on  Common  Prayer  and  Sacraments,  p.  376. 

f  Homily  against  Swearing  and  Perjury,  p.  74. 

X  Homily  on  Common  Prayer  and  Sacraments,  p.  377. 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

are  grace-conveying  ordinances  by  whatever 
term  they  may  be  called.  To  quote  the  lan- 
guage of  the  late  Bishop  Forbes,  of  Brechin, 
''  It  cannot  be  denied  that  seven  ordinances 
have  inclosed  the  whole  Christian  life  in 
blessed  bonds,  not  all  necessary  for  all,  nay, 
in  the  highest  form  of  Christian  life  there 
is  no  room  for  matrimony ;  and  in  the  first 
fervor  of  Christian  love  they  were  the  ex- 
ception who  needed  to  be  restored  by  the 
Sacrament  of  Penitence,  but  conveying  ac- 
cording to  men's  needs  the  grace  of  which 
they  are  channels.  They  have  ever  been 
regarded  to  have  a  mystical  significance  of 
their  own  and  separately  from  the  beginning 
have  existed  as  practices  in  the  Church."  * 

Accordingly  the  Church's  Ministry  of 
Grace  was  selected  as  the  title  to  this  course 
of  lectures,  without  the  intention  of  affirming 
that  there  are  no  other  instruments  of  grace 
known  to  the  Church,  or  of  denying  that 
such  practices  as  prayer  and  fasting  are  such 

*  Explanation  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles,  p.  453. 


X  IN  TROD  UC  TION. 

instruments,  but  only  that  the  latter,  unlike 
the  subjects  treated  in  this  volume,  are  not 
distinguished  by  any  visible  sign  and  there- 
fore do  not  conform  to  the  description  of 
Saint  Augustine. 

Within  the  meaning  of  that  description 
not  only  have  the  two  Sacraments  of  the 
Gospel  their  visible  signs,  but  the  other  five 
also  have  their  own  respective  signs  and  im- 
part grace  effective  to  their  several  ends. 

In  Holy  Baptism  the  form  in  the  Angli- 
can and  the  Roman  communions  is  the 
same,  ''  I  baptize  thee,"  etc.  In  the  Greek 
Church  the  form  is,  **  Be  the  servant  of  God 
baptized,"  etc.  In  the  Anglican  commun- 
ion. Baptism  is  administered  by  immersion 
or  pouring.  In  the  Latin  Church  sprink- 
ling is  also  allowed,  while  in  the  East  im- 
mersion is  the  rule.  The  inward  and  in- 
visible gift  is  regeneration.  The  matter  is 
invariably  water. 

Baptism,  like  Confirmation  and  Orders, 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

can  never  be  repeated,  for  the  reason  that  it 
confers  on  the  soul  what  is  called  character, 
meaning  an  ineffaceable  mark.  With  the 
Holy  Eucharist  it  Is  a  Sacrament  of  necessity. 

In  the  Holy  Eucharist  the  matter  is  the 
bread  and  wine,  and  the  form,  in  the  Latin 
and  English  Churches  at  least,  the  words  of 
institution.  According  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  Eastern  Church,  however,  until  a  com- 
paratively recent  date,  the  change  of  the 
elements  into  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ 
is  effected  not  by  the  recitation  of  the  words 
of  institution,  but  by  the  Invocation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  only.*     Such,  however,  is  not 

*  "  We  now  come  to  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  by 
which  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Eastern  Church  and  not  by 
the  words  of  institution,  the  bread  and  wine  are  '  changed,'  '  trans- 
muted,' '  transelemented,'  'transubstantiated' into  our  Lord's  Body 
and  Blood.  This  has  always  been  a  point  of  contention  between 
the  two  churches — the  time  at  which  the  change  takes  place. 
Originally,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Invocation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  formed  a  part  of  all  liturgies.  The  Petrine  has  entirely 
lost  it;  the  Ephesine  (Galilean  and  Mozarabic)  more  or  less  retains 
it;  as  do  also  those  mixtures  of  the  Ephesine  and  Petrine,  the  Am- 
brosian  and  Patriarchine  or  Aquileian.  To  use  the  words  of  the 
authorized  Russian  Catechism :   '  Why  is  this  [the  Invocation]  so 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

the  teaching  of  the  West.  The  Invocation 
probably  never  formed  a  part  of  the  Petrine 
Liturgy  and  has  disappeared  from  the  canon 
In  the  present  English  use,  although  It  has 
been  restored  In  the  Scottish  and  American 
rites. 

All  are  agreed,  however,  that  the  conse- 
cration or  change  of  the  elements  Into  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  Is  effected  by  the 
operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  all  sacerdotal 
power  being  derived  from  Him,  the  differ- 
ence of  opinion  being  as  to  whether  it  is 
necessary  that  the  prayer  to  the  Holy  Ghost 
to  bring  about  the  change  should  be  ex- 
pressed, or  whether  it  is  sufficiently  implied 
in  reciting  the  words  of  Institution. 

essential  ?  Because  at  the  moment  of  this  act,  the  bread  and  the 
wine  are  changed  or  transubstantiated  into  the  very  Body  of  Christ, 
and  into  the  very  Blood  of  Christ.  How  are  we  to  understand 
the  word  transubstantiation  ?  In  the  exposition  of  the  faith  by 
the  Eastern  Patriarchs,  it  is  said  that  the  word  is  not  to  be  taken 
to  define  the  manner  in  which  the  bread  and  wine  are  changed 
into  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our  Lord  ;  for  that  none  can  under- 
stand but  God  ;  but  only  this  much  is  signified,  that  the  bread, 
truly,  really,  and  substantially  becomes  the  very  true  '  Body  of  the 
Lord,'  and  the  wine  the  very  '  Blood  of  the  Lord.'  "  Translations 
of  the  Primitive  Liturgies.     Neale  and  Littledale,  p.  23,  note. 


INTRODUCTION.  Xlll 

Speaking  of  the  Liturgy  of  the  Church  of 
England  Canon  Luckock  says  :  *'  We  may 
have  a  full  conviction  that  the  agency  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  instrumental  in  produc- 
ing the  Sacramental  change,  and  yet  not 
deem  the  omission  to  express  this  convic- 
tion in  the  office  fatal  to  its  validity."  * 

In  the  East,  ''since  what  is  known  as 
*  the  Moscow  Controversy,'  the  principle  has 
been  accepted  that  consecration  is  effected 
by  the  combined  use  of  both,"  so  writes  the 
same  author. f 

The  inward  and  invisible  gift  is  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ. 

The  outward  sign  in  Confirmation,  in  the 
Anglican  Communion  at  least,  is  the  imposi- 
tion of  hands  and  the  words  uttered  by  the 
Bishop  as  he  lays  his  hands  on  the  head  of 
each  candidate ;  and  the  inward  grace  is  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  communicated 
to  the  recipients  of  the  rite  to  confirm  and 

*  The  Divine  I^iturgy,  p.  299,  2d  ed.  f  Ibid.,  p.  298. 


XIV  INTRODUCTION. 

Strengthen  them  in  faith  and  holy  living. 
Confirmation  confers  both  grace  and  char- 
acter. As  in  Holy  Orders  the  Holy  Ghost 
gives  special  grace  for  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try, so  in  Confirmation,  grace  for  the  ordinary 
work  of  the  Christian  life  is  given,  in  fact  it 
has  been  described  as  a  sort  of  ordination  of 
the  laity.  In  the  East  it  still  retains  the 
primitive  name  of  the  Seal  of  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

In  the  Greek  and  in  the  Roman  Church 
Confirmation  is  given  with  Unction,  and  in 
the  former  can  be  and  is  administered  by 
Priests  using  the  sacred  chrism,  or  oil  and 
balsam,  that  has  been  consecrated  by  the 
Bishop.  Originally,  in  the  very  beginning, 
it  would  appear  that  it  was  given  with  the 
imposition  of  hands  alone,  but  at  a  very  ear- 
ly date  the  use  of  chrism  was  added,  some 
say  in  the  times  of  the  Apostles  them- 
selves. 

In  the  East,  Confirmation  is  still  admin- 
istered immediately  after  Baptism,  and  was 


IN  TR  OD  UC  TION.  XV 

not  separated  from  it  in  the  West  until  the 
seventh  century. 

Although  the  Anglican  and  the  Roman 
Churches  to-day  consider  the  administration 
of  this  Sacrament  inexpedient  until  children 
shall  have  reached  the  use  of  reason,  they 
do  not  deny  that  Confirmation  would  in  a 
spiritual  sense  edify  infants  as  it  did  in  the 
days  of  the  Apostles. 

It  seems  strange  that  there  is  no  men- 
tion of  Confirmation  in  the  Catechism,  but 
neither  does  it  contain  any  instruction  about 
the  Bible,  the  Church,  the  Ministry,  and  other 
important  and  fundamental  matters.  The 
explanation  is  that  the  Catechism  as  we  have 
it  to-day  even  is  an  incomplete  composition. 
It  was  begun  under  Edward  VI.  and  was 
gradually  enlarged  and  improved  ;  the  Com- 
mandments were  inserted  in  1552;  and  the 
section  on  the  two  greater  Sacraments  was 
added  in  1604  and  revised  in  1662.  And  it 
is  for  this  reason  doubtless,  that  the  Church 
in  her  Baptismal  office  instructs  the  Sponsors 


XVI  INTRODUCTION, 

to  provide  that  the  newly  baptized  learn  not 
only  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the 
Ten  Commandments,  and  be  instructed  in 
the  other  parts  of  the  Church  Catechism, 
but  also  that  he  be  taught  ''all  other  things 
which  a  Christian  ought  to  know  and  believe 
to  his  soul's  health,  " 

The  outward  sign  in  Holy  Orders  is  the 
laying  on  of  the  Bishop's  hands  and  the 
words  spoken  by  the  Bishop  at  the  imposi- 
tion of  his  hands.  The  inward  grace  is  au- 
thority to  execute  the  office  of  deacon,  the 
Holy  Ghost*  for  the  office  and  work  of  a 

*  ' '  All  sacerdotal  power  is  derived  from  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the 
Church  therefore  holds  that  the  reception  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
necessary  to  constitute  a  Christian  Priest,  and  that  this  gift  can 
be  conferred  only  through  the  hands  of  a  Bishop.  The  priest- 
hood is  a  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  .  .  .  All  the  efficacy  that  there 
is  in  the  administration  of  any  ecclesiastical  office  depends  wholly 
upon  the  co-operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  '  Whether  we  preach, 
pray,  baptize,  communicate,  condemn,  give  absolution,  or  whatso- 
ever, as  dispensers  of  God's  mysteries,  all  words,  judgments, 
acts,  and  deeds  are  not  ours,  but  the  Holy  Ghost's  *  (Hooker's 
Eccl.  Pol.  b.v.c.  Ixxvii.  5,  8);  and  the  gift  is  the  spirit  of  power, 
of  love  and  soberness,  the  spirit  of  confirmation,  and  of  ghostly 
strength,"  The  Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  Blunt. 
Revised  and  enlarged  edition.     Note,  page  690. 


INTRODUCTION.  xvil 

Priest  or  of  a  Bishop  in  the  Church  of  God, 
as  the  case  may  be.  Holy  Orders  confer 
character  as  well  as  grace.  Both  the  outward 
sign  and  the  inward  grace  of  this  Sacrament 
are  spoken  of  in  the  Bible.  ''  Stir  up  the  gift 
of  God  which  is  in  thee  by  the  putting  on  of 
my  hands,"  *  so  writes  Saint  Paul  to  Saint 
Timothy.  '*  It  is  evident  unto  all  men  dili- 
gently reading  the  Holy  Scripture  and  ancient 
authors,  that  from  the  Apostles'  time  there 
have  been  three  orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's 
Church:  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons," f 
and  that  to  the  first  order  alone,  that  is  to 
the  Bishops,  as  successors  of  the  Apostles, 
belongs  the  power  of  ordination,  and  of  per- 
petuating their  own  succession.  With  this 
ministry  Our  Lord  has  promised  to  be  ''  even 
unto  the  end  of  the  world."  J 

In  the  office  of  Institution  of  Ministers 
we  pray  in  these  words :  *'  O  Holy  Jesus, 
who  hast  purchased  to  Thyself  an  universal 

*  2  Timothy  i.  6.  f  Preface  to  the  Ordinal. 

%  S.  Matthew  xxviii.  20. 


xviu  INTRODUCTION, 

Church  and  hast  promised  to  be  with  the 
ministers  of  Apostolic  Succession  to  the  end 
of  the  world  ;  Be  graciously  pleased  to  bless 
the  ministry  and  service  of  him  who  is  now 
appointed  to  offer  the  sacrifice  of  prayer  and 
praise  to  Thee  in  this  house,  which  is  called 
by  Thy  Name.  May  the  words  of  his  mouth 
and  the  meditation  of  his  heart  be  always 
acceptable  in  Thy  sight,  O  Lord  our  strength 
and  our  Redeemer.     Amen." 

The  Church  has  most  carefully  guarded 
against  the  possibility  of  a  break  in  this  suc- 
cession, and  in  very  early  times  provided  that 
there  should  be  at  least  three  Bishops  to 
consecrate  another  to  that  office.  * 

Her  practice,  as  well  as  her  express  en- 
actments, show  how  essential  the  Church 
regards  Episcopal  Ordination  to  be.  In  the 
case  of  ministers  of  other  religious  bodies 
applying  for  admission  to  the  Church's  Min- 
istry, the  crucial  question  is  whether  they 

*  Canon  iv.  of  Nicsesa.  Index  Canonum.  Fulton,  p.  123, 
3d  edition. 


IN  TR  OB  UC  TION.  XIX 

have  been  Episcopally  ordained  or  not.  It 
is  not  sufficient  that  they  have  been  ordained 
by  a  man  calHng  himself  a  Bishop,  but  their 
orders  must  have  been  conferred  by  a  member 
of  the  Historic  Episcopate  or  in  other  words 
by  a  Bishop  having  the  ApostoHc  succes- 
sion;* Roman  and  Greek  CathoHcs  so  ap- 
plying are  not  re-ordained,  but  are  simply 
received  upon  giving  satisfactory  proof  of 
their  loyalty  to  our  standards,  f  whereas  a 
Presbyterian  Minister,  a  Methodist  Bishop, 
or  an  Irvingite  Angel  are  received  simply  as 
laymen,  and  after  a  certain  probation  regu- 
lated by  Canon  are  admitted  to  the  lowest 
order  of  the  Church's  Ministry,  J 

The  outward  sign  §  in  Matrimony  is  the 

*  "And  therefore  to  the  intent  that  these  orders  may  be  con- 
tinued, and  reverently  used  and  esteemed  in  this  Church,  no  man 
shall  be  accounted  or  taken  to  be  a  lawful  Bishop,  Priest,  or  Dea- 
con in  this  Church,  or  suffered  to  execute  any  of  the  said  functions 
except  he  be  called,  tried,  examined,  and  admitted  thereunto, 
according  to  the  form  hereafter  following,  or  hath  had  Episcopal 
Consecration  or  Ordination."     Preface  to  the  Ordinal, 

\Vide  Title  i..  Canons  ii  and  12. 

XVide  Title  i.,  Canon  2,  §vii. 

§  Vide  Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and  Historical  Theology. 
Blunt,  p.  444,  2d  edition. 


XX  IN  TR  on  UC  TION. 

consenting  together  of  the  man  and  the 
woman  in  hol}^  wedlock,  exhibited  by  giving 
and  pledging  their  troth  each  to  the  other, 
and  declared  and  illustrated,  in  the  ritual  of 
the  Church,  by  giving  and  receiving  a  Ring, 
and  by  joining  hands.  The  inward  gift  is 
grace  to  live  faithfully  together  according  to 
God's  laws,  and  surely  perform  and  keep 
the  vow  and  covenant  betwixt  them  made. 
'*  The  Sacrament  of  Matrimony  knitteth  man 
and  wife  in  perpetual  love,"  *  says  the  Church 
in  her  Homily  on  Swearing.  The  ancient 
view  of  Matrimony  was  that  the  holy  bond 
could  not  be  dissolved  save  by  death.  Saint 
Augustine  even  predicates  of  it  an  indelible 
character  and  frequently  refers  to  it  as  a 
sacrament,  as  does  also  Saint  Ambrose. 
Speaking  of  Marriage,  Dr.  Blunt  writes  :  "■  It 
is  not,  however,  only  as  a  religious  contract, 
but  also  as  a  Sacrament,  that  marriage  is 
regarded  by  the  Church  of  Christ ;  the  Eng- 
lish   Church  numbering  it  among  the   five 

*  Homily  against  Swearing  and  Perjury,  p.  74. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

lesser  Sacraments,  which  are  necessary  to 
particular  states  of  life  to  which  they  refer, 
though  not  necessary  for  persons  in  gen- 
eral." ^  The  Christian  marriage  in  its  mys- 
terious union  of  two  persons  in  body,  soul, 
and  spirit,  symbolizes  to  us  the  mystical  union 
that  is  between  Christ  and  His  Church. f 

The  modern  and  popular  view  of  mar- 
riage is  a  lax  one.  It  is  neither  a  Sacrament 
nor  a  holy  thing  at  all  to  the  world,  and  is 
entered  into  lightly  perhaps  for  the  reason 
that  its  bond  can  be  shaken  off  so  easily. 

Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  in  the  future, 
perhaps  far  off,  the  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion, if  no  higher  motive,  will  constrain  society 
to  return  again  to  the  old  teaching  on  this 
most  momentous  subject  and  uphold  the 
sanctity  of  marriage  on  her  statute-books  ? 
Death  alone  terminates  marriage.  Adultery 
violates  it, 

Penance  is  variously  called  Confession, 

*  Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and  Historical  Theology,  2d  edi- 
tion, p.  444.         f  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Marriage  Service. 


XXll  INTRODUCTION. 

Absolution,- the  second  Baptism,  and  tne  sec- 
ond Repentance.  The  outward  sign  is  the 
words  of  the  Priest  when  he  absolves,  and 
when  the  words  of  the  Homily*  in  regard 
to  the  matter  are  observed,  the  laying  on  of 
hands,  and  the  inward  grace  is  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins.  This  is  promised  in  the  most 
absolute  terms  by  our  Lord  Himself.  ''  Re- 
ceive ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;  whosesoever  sins 
ye  remit  they  are  remitted  unto  them  and 
whosesoever  sins  ye  retain  they  are  retained."f 
This  power  was  given  in  the  same  way  as 
the  commission  to  preach  the  Gospel,  the 
authority  to  baptize,  to  celebrate  the  Euchar- 
ist, and  to  teach. 

The  right  of  pronouncing  absolution  is  by 
the  Church  strictly  confined  to  an  Episco- 
pally  ordained  priesthood.  The  power  to 
forgive  sins  is  from  above  ;  the  dispenser  of 
pardon  is  God,  through  His  Son  Jesus  Christ, 

*  Homily  on  Common  Prayer  and  Sacraments,  p.  377. 
\  S.  John  XX.  22,  23.      Vide  Form  and  Manner  of  Ordering 
Priests. 


introduction:  xxm 

our  great  High  Priest,  but  He  chooses  to 
impart  it  to  His  children  through  human 
agents,  the  Christian  Priesthood,  but  no 
absolution  of  theirs  is  effectual  without  a 
true  repentance  and  a  firm  resolve  on  the 
part  of  the  penitent  to  lead  a  new  life.  God 
acts  here  as  in  so  many  other  ordinances 
through  human  agents  and  material  channels. 
This  is  the  essence  of  sacerdotalism,  namely 
that  it  is  God's  rule  to  work  by  the  use  of 
means.  The  Church's  system  is  sacerdotal 
as  well  as  sacramental.  The  relation  be- 
tween pastor  and  flock  is,  in  the  letter  of  in- 
stitutions in  the  office  of  Institution  of  a 
Minister  in  the  Prayer  Book,  declared  to  be 
of  a  sacerdotal  character. 

In  the  early  Church  Penance  was  admin- 
istered publicly.  The  XXXIII  Article  of 
Religion  prescribes  Penance  as  the  mode 
of  reconciling  an  excommunicated  person  to 
the  Church. 

With  us  confession  of  sins  to  a  Priest  is 
not  compulsory  and  is  not  a  prerequisite  to 


XXIV  INTRODUCTION. 

the  reception  of  the  Holy  Communion,  but 
it  is  a  privilege  which  the  Church  extends 
to  those  of  her  children  who  seek  it,  and  it 
is  their  right  who  desire  it.  The  Church  al- 
lows a  wide  liberty  in  this  matter,  and  in  the 
first  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI.  inserted 
these  words  in  one  of  the  Exhortations  in 
the  Communion  office,  ''  requiring  such  as 
shall  be  satisfied  with  a  general  confession, 
not  to  be  offended  with  them  that  do  use, 
to  their  further  satisfying,  the  auricular  and 
secret  confession  to  the  Priest ;  nor  those 
also  which  think  needful  or  convenient  for 
the  quietness  of  their  own  consciences  par- 
ticularly to  open  their  sins  to  the  Priest,  to 
be  offended  with  them  that  are  satisfied 
with  their  humble  confession  to  God  and 
the  general  confession  to  the  Church.  But 
in  all  things  to  follow  and  keep  the  rule  of 
charity,  and  every  man  to  be  satisfied  with 
his  own  conscience,  not  judging  other  men's 
minds  or  consciences,  when  as  he  hath  no 
warrant  of  God's  word  to  the  same." 


INTRODUCTION.  xxv 

The  outward  sign  in  Unction  is  oil  and 
the  words  used  by  the  Priest  when  he  anoints 
the  sick  person,  and  the  inward  grace  is  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  and  the  raising  of  the 
sick  man  to  health,  if  not  of  the  body  at  least 
of  soul. 

Unction  has  been  called  the  lost  pleiad 
of  the  Anglican  firmament.  Its  administra- 
tion was  provided  for  in  the  first  English 
Prayer  Book.  The  rubric  in  the  office  for 
the  Visitation  of  the  Sick  directed  the  Priest, 
if  the  sick  person  desired  it,  to  ''  Anoint  him 
upon  the  forehead  or  breast  only,  making 
the  sign  of  the  cross,"  using  these  words, ''  As 
with  this  visible  oil  thy  body  outwardly  is 
anointed,  so  our  heavenly  father.  Almighty 
God,  grant  of  His  infinite  goodness,  that  thy 
soul  inwardly  may  be  anointed  with  the  Holy 
Ghost,  who  is  the  Spirit  of  all  strength,  com- 
fort, relief,  and  gladness ;  and  vouchsafe  for 
His  great  mercy  (if  it  be  His  blessed  will) 
to  restore  unto  thee  thy  bodily  health  and 
strength,  to  serve  Him;  and  send  thee  release 


XXVI  INTRODUCTION, 

of  all  thy  pains,  troubles,  and  diseases,  both 
in  body  and  mind.  And  howsoever  His 
goodness  (by  His  divine  and  unsearchable 
providence)  shall  dispose  of  thee,  we,  His  un- 
worthy ministers  and  servants,  humbly  be- 
seech the  eternal  majesty  to  do  with  thee 
according  to  the  multitude  of  His  innumera- 
ble mercies,  and  to  pardon  thee  all  thy  sins 
and  offences,  committed  by  all  thy  bodily 
senses,  passions,  and  carnal  affections  ;  who 
also  vouchsafe  mercifully  to  grant  unto  thee 
ghostly  strength,  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  to  with- 
stand and  overcome  all  temptations  and 
assaults  of  thine  adversaries,  that  in  no  wise 
he  prevail  against  thee,  but  that  thou  mayest 
have  perfect  victory  and  triumph  against  the 
devil,  sin,  and  death  through  Christ  our  Lord; 
Who  by  His  death  hath  overcome  the  prince 
of  death,  and  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Ghost  evermore  liveth  and  reigneth  God, 
world  without  end.  Amen."  But  all  this 
was  removed  in  the  second  book,  and  al- 
though everything  in  the  earlier  book  was 


p 

IN  TROD  UC  TION.  XX  vii 

commended  by  the  compilers  of  the  later, 
the  service  for  the  anointing  of  the  sick  has 
never  been  restored  to  its  place  in  the 
Prayer  Book.  The  rite  is  in  use  among  the 
Nestorians  and  Armenians  and  all  the 
Orientals  as  well  as  among  the  Orthodox 
Greeks  and  the  Latins,  although  among 
the  latter  it  has  been  diverted  from  its 
original  purpose  and  to-day  is  only  admin- 
istered, in  the  Roman  Church,  when  the 
sick  man  is  in  extremis  and  all  hope  of 
recovery  is  past.  It  may  be  because  of  this 
misuse  of  the  ordinance  that  all  provision 
for  its  administration  was  dropped  out  of 
the  Prayer  Book ;  perhaps  on  the  ground 
that  its  perversion  from  its  original  purpose 
constituted  "a  corrupt  following  of  the 
Apostles; "  but  because  a  practice  has  been 
abused  is  no  good  reason  that  it  should 
therefore  cease  to  be  used,  but  rather  that 
the  abuses  should  be  reformed  and  the  prac- 
tice continued. 

The  practice  is  distinctly  scriptural  and  is 


xxviu  IN  TROD  UC  TION. 

founded  on  S.James  v.  14,  15:  "Is  any 
sick  among  you  ?  Let  him  call  for  the  elders 
of  the  Church  ;  and  let  them  pray  over  him, 
anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord.  And  the  prayer  of  faith  shall  save 
the  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up ; 
and  if  he  hath  committed  sins  they  shall  be 
forgiven  him."  ''  The  visitation  of  the  sick 
is  not,  therefore,  in  the  minister  of  Christ  a 
mere  piece  of  civility  or  neighborly  kindness, 
but  an  act  of  religion.  He  comes  in  the 
name  of  Christ  to  pray  with  and  for  the  sick 
man  ;  if  necessary  to  reconcile  him  to  the 
Church  by  the  blessing  of  absolution,  and  to 
communicate  to  him  the  Sacrament  of  our 
Lord's  Body  and  Blood."  * 

The  fact  of  the  agreement  of  all  the  his- 
toric Churches,  schismatics  and  orthodox 
alike,  on  this  subject  of  the  sacramental  use 
of  oil  in  anointing  the  sick,  goes  to  show 

*  The  Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer.  Blunt.  En- 
larged and  revised  edition,  p.  460.  Vide  also  Order  for  the  Visi- 
tation of  the  Sick  in  the  English  Prayer  Book. 


INTRODUCTION.  XXIX 

that  the  practice  must  have  been  known  to 
the  Church  from  the  beginning,  and  that  the 
Church  of  England  acted  consistently  with 
her  declared  principle,  a  strict  adherence  to 
antiquity,  in  retaining  in  her  first  English 
Prayer  Book  a  service  for  the  administration 
of  this  Apostolic  rite,  and  that  by  its  omis- 
sion a  primitive  and  Apostolic  practice  has 
been  practically  lost  to  the  Church. 

Unction,  however,  has  never  been  con- 
sidered necessary  to  salvation,  but  it  is  rather 
looked  upon  as  a  privilege  of  the  faithful. 

It  is  believed  that  these  lectures  cannot 
fail  to  prove  useful  to  all  thoughtful  readers, 
not  only  because  of  the  high  ability  of  those 
who,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Church  Club, 
consented  to  deliver  them,  Professor  Clark, 
Dr.  Fiske,  Dean  Robbins,  and  Bishops  Gar- 
rett and  Grafton,  but  also  for  the  reason 
that  in  them  the  teaching  of  the  Church  on 
the  subject  of  the  two  great  Sacraments  of 
the  Gospel  is  clearly  stated,  as  well  as  her 


XXX  IN  TK  on  UC  7  'ION'. 

position  in  regard  to  those  other  means  of 
grace,  which,  although  not  Sacraments  of  the 
Gospel  and  not  generally  necessary  to  sal- 
vation, are  still  ''commonly  called  Sacra- 
ments." 

In  them  the  two  great  propositions  that 
"  Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit  he  cannot  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of 
God," ^  and  ''Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  and  drink  His  blood,  ye  have 
no  life  in  you,"f  are  clearly  brought  out. 

Baptism  and  the  Holy  Eucharist  must 
ever  stand  out  pre-eminent.  They  alone  are 
generally  necessary  to  salvation,  and  corre- 
spond in  the  New  Dispensation  to  what  Cir- 
cumcision and  the  Passover  were  to  Israel 
of  old.  Of  them  alone  it  is  recorded  that 
Christ  ordained  their  outward  signs  as  sym- 
bols and  vehicles  of  their  inward  graces. 

It  is  not  contended  that  all  men  should 
take  holy  orders,  nor  yet  that  all  persons 
should  marry,  or  practise  auricular  confession 

*S.  John  iii.  5.  f  S.  John  vi.  55. 


INTRODUCTION,  XXXI 

either  habitually  or  even  occasionally.  Unc- 
tion has  never  been  thought  necessary  to  sal- 
vation, but  has  rather  been  regarded  as  a 
privilege  to  be  extended  to  those  of  the  faith- 
ful who  desire  it. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that 
because  these  rites  are  not  necessary  it  by 
no  means  follows  that  they  are  not  impor- 
tant. Confirmation  was  administered  to  all 
by  the  Apostles,  acting,  it  is  reasonably 
inferred,  under  the  instructions  of  Our 
Lord,  given  after  His  resurrection,  and 
was  certainly  by  them  considered  to  be  of 
vital  importance,  and  has  been  so  regarded 
by  their  successors  ever  since.  For  worldly 
success  it  is  not  absolutely  essential  that  a 
man  should  be  educated,  he  need  not  know 
how  to  read  or  write  even,  or  yet  to  speak, 
hear,  or  see,  but  it  will  not  be  gainsaid  that 
these  are  things  that  a  man  would  be  sorry 
to  be  compelled  to  go  through  life  without. 

So  with  these  five  rites,  as  has  been  said 
before,  although  "  not  all  necessary  for  all," 


xxxil  INTRODUCTION. 

they  convey  ''According  to  men*s  needs  the 
grace  of  which  they  are  channels  "  and  have 
"from  the  beginning  existed  as  practices  in 
the  Church  ;  "  and  since  in  these  lectures  the 
position  and  proper  use  of  each,  as  well  as 
the  fact  that  they  constitute  an  integral  part 
of  our  inheritance  as  Churchmen  are  pointed 
out,  it  is  believed  that  the  volume  will  prove 
not  only  of  great  practical  value  to  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  our  communion,  but  it  is 
hoped  will  also  serve  a  useful  purpose  in  set- 
ting out  clearly  before  those  not  in  commun- 
ion with  us,  who  may  be  striving  to  compre- 
hend our  system,  the  Church's  attitude  toward 
these  matters. 


Ibol^  Baptiem. 


LECTURE    I. 

BY  WILLIAM   CLARK.  M.A.  OXON., 
Hon.  LL.D.,  D.C.L.,  F.R.S.C. 

HOLY  BAPTISM. 

The  work  of  grace,  the  work  of  God  on  behalf 
of  the  sinful  race  of  man,  is  one  work,  although 
it  has  been  carried  on  *'  at  sundry  times  and  in 
divers  manners."  It  culminates  in  the  work  of 
Christ  and  in  the  organization  of  the  Christian 
Church  ;  and  these  two  things  are  inseparable. 
The  work  which  Christ  did  upon  earth  He  accom- 
plished in  order  that  God  the  Holy  Ghost  might 
dwell  with  men  upon  the  earth.  The  Church  was 
organized  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  in  order  that 
the  work  of  Christ  might  be  carried  on  by  the 
Spirit.  To  make  any  attempt  to  separate  these 
two  parts  of  Divine  revelation  and  working  is  an 
indication  of  a  profound  misunderstanding  of  the 
purpose  of  God,  and  must  lead  to  most  injurious 
consequences. 

It  is  generally  agreed  among  those  who  call 
themselves  by  the  name  of  Christ  that  the  work 

3 


4  HOLY  BAPTISM. 

of  the  Church  cannot  be  separated  from  that  of 
its  Founder ;  but  it  is  not  so  generally  recognized 
that  the  work  which  Christ  is  now  doing  in  the 
world  is  carried  on  by  the  Holy  Spirit  working 
through  the  organism  of  the  Church.  And  yet 
this  is  the  simple  truth  of  the  matter.  We  are  no 
longer  mere  disciples  of  Christ,  listening  to  His 
teaching,  obeying  His  commands,  fulfilling  His 
will.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  this  relation  to  our 
Master  will  never  cease.  But  we  have,  since  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  come  into  a  closer  relationship 
to  Him;  we  are  now  members  of  His  Body, 
branches  in  that  mystical  Vine  of  which  He  is  the 
trunk ;  and  it  is  in  the  thorough  recognition  of 
this  connexion  that  we  shall  be  able  to  understand 
the  significance  of  the  Church's  ministry  of  grace, 
and  the  place  and  power  of  the  sacraments. 

It  is  for  want  of  keeping  these  considerations 
in  view  that  many  sincere  and  earnest  Christian 
people  have  fallen  into  serious  error  with  respect 
to  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  and  have  even 
denounced  as  heretical  that  which  has  been  the 
doctrine  of  the  Church  from  the  very  beginning  of 
her  history.  If  Baptism  were  a  mere  rite  of  ini- 
tiation, a  mere  badge  of  discipleship,  a  mere  ex- 
ternal act  that  is  to  say,  then  it  would  be  unintel- 
ligible that  it  should  be  described  by  the  language 
which  we  find  in  the  Bible  and  in  the  Prayer  Book 
alike ;  but  Baptism  is  more  than  this. 


HOLY  BAPTISM.  5 

Ceremonies  similar  in  their  outward  form  to 
Christian  Baptism  have  been  in  use,  and  have  had 
some  part  of  the  meaning  of  this  great  ordinance. 
Water  has  always  been  a  symbol  of  life  and  of 
cleansing.  An  ancient  philosopher  made  it  to  be 
the  principle  of  all  existence.  Under  the  law 
there  were  many  ceremonial  washings,  by  which 
certain  kinds  of  impurities  were  supposed  to  be 
removed.  It  is  even  said,  although  there  is  no  ab- 
solute proof  of  the  custom,  that  proselytes  were 
received,  by  baptism,  from  other  religious  systems. 
At  any  rate  it  was  in  this  way  that  S.  John  the 
Baptist  enrolled  those  disciples  who  came  to  him 
to  be  taught  the  way  of  righteousness  and  to  be 
prepared  for  the  coming  of  the  Messiah. 

But  Baptism  was  instituted  by  our  Lord  with  a 
deeper  meaning,  as  a  means  not  merely  of  enroll- 
ing men  among  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ,  but 
of  grafting  them  into  the  mystical  vine  and  giving 
them  organic  connexion  with  the  Church  which  is 
the  Body  of  the  Lord.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
insist  upon  the  proof  of  these  elementary  state- 
ments. It  will  be  sufficient  to  note  that  one 
aspect  of  the  subject  is  presented  in  our  Lord's 
commission  (S.  Matt,  xxviii.  19)  :  ^'  Go  ye  there- 
fore, and  make  disciples  of  all  nations,  baptizing 
them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  '  whilst  the  other  is  em- 
bodied in  the  words  of   S.  Paul  (i  Cor.  xii.  13), 


6  HOLY  BAPTISM. 

"For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into  one 
body." 

These  things  are  not  denied  by  any  who  be- 
lieve that  the  sacraments  are  of  perpetual  obliga- 
tion. There  never  has  been  a  time  since  the  day 
of  Pentecost  when  an  unbaptized  man  has  been  re- 
garded as  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  or  a 
baptized  man  has  been  regarded  as  other  than  a 
member.  The  nature  and  significance  of  Christian 
Baptism  must  therefore  depend  upon  the  nature 
of  the  Church  of  Christ  and  the  meaning  of  the 
relations  constituted  by  the  act  of  baptism. 

That  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  came  into  this  world 
not  merely  to  preach  a  Gospel,  but  to  found  a 
spiritual  Society  has  become  a  commonplace  with 
teachers  of  every  school  of  thought.  Just  as  the 
Eternal  Word  in  the  Incarnation  took  upon  Him 
man's  nature,  and  dwelt  in  our  flesh  as  in  a  taber- 
nacle ;  so  did  the  Holy  Ghost  come  down  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost  and  build  for  Himself  a  spiritual 
temple  in  which  He  might  dwell  and  reign,  an 
habitation  of  God  through  the  Spirit.  This 
gift  of  the  Comforter  was  made  once  for  all.  He 
could  not  be  given  until  Jesus  had  been  glorified, 
until  the  Second  Adam  had  sat  down  upon  His 
mediatorial  throne  ;  but  after  He  had  gone  away 
from  the  earth.  He  fulfilled  His  promise  to  send 
to  His  people  another  Comforter  who  should 
abide  with  them  for  ever. 


.    HOLY  BAPTISM.  7 

Keeping  these  simple  facts  in  view,  we  shall 
find  little  difficulty  in  understanding  the  descrip- 
tions of  the  Church  which  are  found  in  the  apos* 
tolic  epistles.  Let  us  begin  with  what  we  may 
call  the  classical  utterance  of  S.  Paul  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Ephesians  (i.  22,  23)  in  which  he  says  that 
Christ  is  "  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church, 
which  is  His  body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth 
all  in  all."  Here  we  have  two  things  asserted, 
first,  the  intimate  union  between  Christ  and  His 
Church,  and  secondly,  that  He  has  communicated 
all  His  fulness  to  the  Church.  We  know  that 
*'  in  Him,"  in  Christ  Himself  (Coloss.  ii.  9)  "  dwell- 
eth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily.'*  S. 
John  declares  (i.  16)  that  **  of  His  fulness  we  all 
received,  and  grace  for  grace  '' ;  and  now  we  are 
told  that  the  Church  is  His  Body,  "  the  fulness  *' 
— it  is  the  same  word  which  is  employed  in  speak- 
ing of  Christ  Himself — ''the  fulness  of  Him  that 
filleth  all  in  all."  And  the  plain  meaning  of  these 
words  is  borne  out  by  what  is  elsewhere  said  con- 
cerning the  Church,  since  it  is  described  as  the 
*'  Temple  of  God  '  (i  Cor.  iii,  16),  the  "  Temple  of 
the  livmgGod  "  (2  Cor.  vi.  16)  ,  and  "  a  Habitation 
of  God  in  the  Spirit  '  (Ephes.  11.  22), 

It  is,  moreover,  quite  clear  that  these  ex- 
pressions are  applied  to  the  visible  society  of 
Christians  in  the  world.  From  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, when  the  followers  of  Christ  ceased  to  be  a 


8  HOLY  BAPTISM, 

mere  company  of  disciples  and  became  an  organ- 
ized unity,  we  have  constant  mention  made  of  the 
Church  in  a  new  and  peculiar  sense.  It  is  every- 
where the  Church  which  is  increased,  the  Church 
which  is  persecuted,  the  Church  which  is  edified. 

And  this  Church  is  no  mere  abstraction,  nor  is 
it  a  name  applied  to  the  number  of  elect  souls  ex- 
isting within  the  body  of  the  professing  society. 

Every  reference  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
shows  clearly  that  this  Church  is  the  visible  body  of 
Christians,  the  number  of  those  who  profess  the 
faith  of  Christ  and  are  baptized  into  His  name. 
And  it  is  the  same  in  the  Epistles.  Thus  S.  Paul, 
writing  to  the  Corinthians  (i  Cor.  xii.  27),  says: 
**  Ye  are  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  severally  members 
thereof."  It  would  be  impossible  to  be  more  ex- 
plicit. It  is  said  not  merely  of  the  community  at 
large  that  they  form  part  of  the  mystical  Body, 
but  the  same  is  declared  of  each  member  in  par- 
ticular. If  it  is  said  that  this  teaching  involves 
consequences  which  are  at  variance  with  other 
parts  of  sacred  Scriptures,  it  may  suffice  for  the 
present  to  say  that  these  inferences  will  not  be 
overlooked. 

If,  now,  we  have  grasped  the  idea  of  the  Church 
as  it  is  presented  to  us  in  the  New  Testament,  we 
shall  have  no  difficulty  in  understanding  the  nature 
of  that  Act  by  which  we  are  made  members  of 
this  spiritual  organism  ;  and  we  shall  see  that  the 


HOLY  BAPTISM.  g 

teaching  of  the  Anglican  formularies  is,  on  the 
one  hand,  a  mere  exposition  of  the  new  relations 
into  which  the  baptized  have  entered  by  becoming 
members  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  whilst,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  entirely  justified  by  the  language 
of  the  New  Testament. 

What  is  the  teaching  of  our  formularies?  It  is 
based  upon  our  relation  to  Adam  and  to  Christ. 
In  the  first  Adam  men  fell  and  were  lost,  in  the 
second  Adam  they  were  raised  and  saved.  By 
our  natural  birth  we  become  members  of  the  sin- 
ful race  of  man,  we  are  made  children  of  Adam. 
With  the  recognition  of  this  fact  our  baptismal 
service  commences;  **  Forasmuch  as  all  men  are 
conceived  and  born  in  sin."  Such  a  state  is  a 
hopeless  state.  The  only  hope  for  man  is  in  union 
with  the  Second  Adam,  and  this  union  is  effected 
by  baptism  into  His  mystical  Body,  the  Church. 
The  baptized  child  is  no  longer  a  member  of 
Adam,  it  is  a  member  of  Christ.  It  is  no  longer 
one  of  a  condemned  race,  it  is  brought  into  a 
pardoned  community.  It  is  taken  out  of  the 
wild  olive  in  which  it  grew  by  nature,  and  grafted 
into  the  true  Vine,  which  is  Christ.  It  is  removed 
from  the  merely  human  family  into  which  it  was 
introduced  by  its  natural  birth,  and  brought  into 
the  family  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 

Here  is  no  mechanical,  magical  act,  by  which 
the  nature  of   a  human  being  is  thought  to  be 


lO  HOLY  BAPTISM. 

radically  changed.  It  is  a  spiritual  act  by  which 
a  new  position  and  new  relations  are  constituted, 
and  new  privileges  are  conferred. 

There  is  nothing  unreasonable  or  difficult  of 
belief  in  this  teaching  rightly  understood.  For, 
let  it  be  observed,  it  is  not  asserted  that  the  child 
was  personally  sinful  or  guilty  before  its  baptism, 
and  that  its  sinful  heart  is  changed  in  or  by  that 
Sacrament.  Personal  sin  and  personal  guilt  can 
be  attributed  only  to  those  who  are  conscious  and 
responsible  beings.  When,  therefore,  we  speak  of 
a  great  change  being  effected  in  baptism,  it  is  not 
intended  to  imply  that  the  bad  child  has  been 
made  a  good  child,  or  that  any  miracle  has  been 
wrought  in  the  moral  disposition  of  the  child  bap- 
tized, or  that  it  has  experienced  a  change  like 
that  which  takes  place  in  an  adult  who  is  con- 
verted from  sin  to  God.  It  is  meant  simply  that, 
whereas  the  child  was  formerly  a  member  of  the 
sinful  family  of  Adam,  and  therefore  possessed 
only  natural  powers,  privileges,  and  prospects,  it 
is  now  brought  into  union  with  Christ,  made  a 
Member  of  the  Church  "which  is  His  body,"  of 
that  body  to  which  the  Holy  Ghost  was  sent  that 
He  might  dwell  in  it  forever,  and  which,  for  that 
reason,  is  called  the  "  Temple  of  the  living  God  " 
and  "a  habitation  of  God  in  the  Spirit." 

A  glance  at  our  formularies  will  show  how 
clearly  all   this  is   recognized   in  their  language. 


HOL  V  BAPTISM.  1 1 

Thus,  in  the  baptismal  service,  after  the  rite  has 
been  administered,  we  affirm  that  the  child  is 
**  regenerate  and  grafted  into  the  body  of  Christ's 
Church,"  and  again,  in  the  prayer  which  follows, 
**  We  yield  Thee  hearty  thanks,  most  merciful 
Father,  that  it  hath  pleased  Thee  to  regenerate 
this  infant  with  Thy  Holy  Spirit,  to  receive  him 
for  Thine  own  child  by  adoption,  and  to  incor- 
porate him  into  Thy  holy  Church." 

To  the  same  purpose  in  the  Catechism  every 
baptized  child  is  taught  to  speak  of  his  baptism  as 
that  in  which  he  "  was  made  a  member  of  Christ, 
the  child  of  God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the  Kingdom 
of  heaven,"  and  to  thank  his  heavenly  Father  for 
having  called  him  **to  this  state  of  salvation 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour."  So  in  the 
"  Order  of  Confirmation  "  the  baptismal  standing 
is  assumed  throughout  the  service,  and  it  is  ex- 
pressly stated  of  those  who  come  to  Confirmation 
that  God  had  ''vouchsafed  to  regenerate  these'* 
His  "servants  by  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost," and 
had  "given  unto  them  forgiveness  of  all  their 
sins." 

The  same  doctrine  is  taught  in  the  Articles. 
Thus,  in  the  twenty-seventh  Article,  we  read  • 
"  Baptism  is  not  only  a  sign  of  profession,  and 
mark  of  difference,  whereby  Christian  men  are 
discerned  from  others  that  be  not  christened,  but 
it  is  also   a   sign   of   regeneration   or   new  birth, 


12  HOLY  BAPTISM. 

whereby,  as  by  an  instrument,  they  that  receive 
baptism  rightly  are  grafted  into  the  Church  ;  the 
promises  of  forgiveness  of  sin  and  of  our  adoption 
to  be  the  sons  of  God  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  visibly 
signed  and  sealed."  To  the  same  effect  are  the 
contents  of  the  ninth  Article,  *'  Of  Original  and 
Birth-Sin,"  and  of  the  sixteenth,  "Of  Sin  after 
Baptism."  It  will  be  quite  clear,  from  an  exami- 
nation of  these  documents,  that  there  is  no  founda- 
tion whatever  for  the  assertion  that  the  teaching 
of  the  Articles  differs  from  that  of  the  Catechism. 
Such  a  notion  must  be  the  result  either  of  a  hasty 
and  superficial  examination  of  the  formularies 
themselves,  or  else  of  an  imperfect  acquaintance 
with  theological  language. 

It  is  time,  however,  to  inquire  a  little  further 
whether  these  views  are  sustained  by  the  teaching 
of  the  New  Testament.  To  some  extent  this 
question  has  already  been  answered  in  our  exposi- 
tion of  the  nature  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  If  the 
Church  is  the  Body  of  Christ,  the  Family  of  God, 
the  Temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  if  baptism  in- 
troduces men  into  that  Church,  then  it  cannot  be 
a  mistake  to  speak  of  the  baptized  person  being 
thus  made  a  *'  member  of  Christ,  the  child  of  God, 
and  an  inheritor  of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven." 

Take  another  view  of  the  matter.  It  is  generally 
agreed  among  all  who  use  baptism,  that  is  to  say, 
nearly  all  Christian  people  except  those  who  are 


HOLY  BAPTISM,  1 3 

called  Friends  or  Quakers,  that  baptism  is  the  sign 
of  the  Christian  Covenant,  just  as  circumcision 
made  men  members  of  the  Covenant  body  under 
the  earlier  dispensation.  Now,  what  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  Christian  Covenant,  and  what  are  the 
privileges  which  it  secures  to  men  ?  The  author 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (viii.  lO,  12),  quot- 
ing from  the  prophet  Jeremiah  (xxxi.  33),  answers 
this  question  :  **  This  is  the  Covenant  that  I  will 
make  with  the  house  of  Israel  after  those  days, 
saith  the  Lord  ;  I  will  put  My  laws  into  their 
mind,  and  on  their  heart  also  will  I  write  them : 
and  I  will  be  to  them  a  God,  and  they  shall  be  to 
Me  a  people  .  .  .  and  their  sins  will  I  remember  no 
more."  It  is  apparent  that  the  blessings  spoken  of 
in  this  passage  are  just  those  which  in  the  baptis- 
mal services  are  attributed  to  the  baptized  child, 
namely,  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  writes 
the  law  upon  the  heart,  adoption  into  God's  family, 
and  the  pardon  of  sin.  These  are  considerations 
which  should  receive  special  attention  from  that 
large  class  of  Christians  who  are  ready  to  acknow- 
ledge the  covenant  privileges  of  the  children  of 
Christian  parents,  and  yet  feel  objections  to  the 
language  employed  by  the  Church  to  denote  those 
privileges.  And  perhaps  these  remarks  may  help 
to  prepare  us  for  an  examination  of  the  direct 
Scripture  testimony  to  the  doctrine  of  Baptism. 
Let   us,   under  this  head,  notice  first  the  two 


14  HOLY  BAPTISM, 

principal  texts  which  directly  and  distinctly  con- 
nect Regeneration  with  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  ; 
one  in  the  words  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  S.  John  iii. 
5  ;  the  other  in  those  of  S.  Paul,  Titus  iii.  5.  In 
the  first  we  read :  "  Except  a  man  be  born  of 
water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God."  For  about  fifteen  hundred 
years  there  was  no  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 
meaning  and  application  of  these  words.  The  birth 
of  water  was  ever  explained  to  mean  the  Sacrament 
of  Baptism.  S.  Justin  Martyr,  the  first  writer 
who  quotes  the  text,  and  one  who  wrote  within 
forty  years  of  the  death  of  S.  John,  so  interprets 
it.  Not  only  so,  but  he  and  all  who  succeed  him 
Connect  the  birth  of  the  Spirit  with  the  birth  of 
water.  Multitudes  of  testimonies  to  the  same 
effect  might  easily  be  quoted.  In  fact  there  is  no 
difference  of  opinion.  This  consensus  could  not 
be  better  expressed  than  in  the  words  of  Hooker 
(Eccl.  Pol.  V.  59,  3)  :  "  To  hide  the  general  con- 
sent of  antiquity  agreeing  in  the  literal  interpre- 
tation, they  cunningly  affirm  that  ^  certain  '  have 
taken  those  works  as  meant  of  material  water, 
when  they  know  that  of  all  the  ancient  there  is 
not  one  to  be  named  that  ever  did  otherwise  ex- 
pound or  allege  the  place  than  as  implying  ex- 
ternal baptism." 

It  is  difficult   to  argue   against   the   prejudice 
which  refuses  to  accept  this  meaning  of  the  words. 


HOL  V  BAP  TISM,  1 5 

It  can  hardly  be  denied  that  it  is  the  literal  and 
grammatical  meaning.  It  is  also,  beyond  all 
doubt,  the  historical  meaning ;  and  it  is  a  meaning 
which  adapts  itself  to  all  the  other  texts  which 
bear  upon  the  same  subject,  and  is  contradicted 
by  none  of  them.  The  author  of  Ecce  Homo^ 
who  cannot  be  suspected  of  any  special  reverence 
for  ecclesiastical  or  patristic  authority,  points  out 
unhesitatingly  that  our  Lord  made  the  ""  declara- 
tion that  there  was  no  way  into  the  Theocracy, 
but  through  Baptism.  The  Kingdom  of  God, 
He  insisted  .  .  .was  a  true  state.  .  .  .  Those  who 
would  enroll  themselves  among  the  citizens  of  it 
were  to  understand  that  they  began  their  life  anew, 
as  truly  as  if  they  had  been  born  again.  And  .  .  . 
the  initiatory  rite  of  baptism  with  its  publicity  and 
formality,  was  pronounced  as  indispensable  to 
membership  as  that  spiritual  inspiration  which  is 
membership  itself."  These  words  are  of  course 
inadequate  if  regarded  as  representing  the  Catholic 
doctrine  of  Baptism,  but  they  do  at  least  recognize 
distinctly  the  plain  connexion,  implied  and  ex- 
pressed in  the  words  of  our  Lord,  between  the 
Sacrament  of  Baptism  and  entrance  into  the 
Kingdom. 

But  perhaps  it  is  necessary  to  refer  to  one 
objection,  which  has  some  appearance  of  validity, 
to  the  effect  that  these  words  of  our  Lord  could 
not  refer  to  baptismal  regeneration,  seeing  that  the 


1 6  HOL  Y  BAP TISM, 

Holy  Ghost,  the  Regenerator,  was  not  yet  given. 
The  force  of  the  objection  is  apparent.  The 
Church  was  not  constituted  when  these  words 
were  spoken,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  dwelling 
among  men  •  and  therefore  there  could  be  no 
admission  into  the  Church  and  no  grafting  into 
that  spiritual  organism  of  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  the  life.  Yet  a  moment's  consideration  will 
show  the  invalidity  of  the  argument.  If  Regener- 
ation were  a  mere  mechanical  act,  tied  to  the 
Sacrament  of  Baptism,  then  the  objection  would 
have  weight.  But  we  have  already  seen  that  it  is 
only  one  out  of  several  aspects  of  the  change 
which  passes  upon  those  who  are  removed  from 
a  state  of  nature  to  a  state  of  grace,  who  are  grafted 
into  the  Church  of  Christ,  which  is  His  mystical 
Body.  Now,  we  might  say  that,  in  the  same  sense 
that  there  was  at  the  time  these  words  were 
spoken  no  regeneration,  in  that  sense  there  was  as 
yet  no  Kingdom.  The  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  the  evidence  of  the  constitution  of  the  mediato- 
rial Kingdom  of  Christ,  was  the  organization  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  on  earth ;  and  those  who  by 
baptism  were  received  into  that  spiritual  system, 
either  after  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  or  by 
anticipation  before  that  day,  at  one  and  the  same 
moment  became  members  of  the  Church,  subjects 
of  the  Kingdom  and  partakers  of  the  heavenly  gift. 
Before  the  day  of  Pentecost  the  blessings  of  the 


HOLY  BAPTISM.  1 7 

new  Covenant  were  theirs  potentially.  After  the 
descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  they  were  theirs  act- 
ually. So  far  as  the  Kingdom  of  God  could  be 
said  to  have  come  when  those  words  were  uttered, 
so  far  the  baptized  man  entered  it  and  enjoyed  its 
blessings.  When  the  fulness  of  time  had  come 
and  the  promised  Gift  was  poured  out,  then  he 
could  enter  into  the  fulness  of  his  heritage. 

Let  us,  then,  turn  to  the  second  of  the  two 
principal  texts,  Titus  iii.  5.  "According  to  His 
mercy  He  saved  us,  through  the  washing  [or 
laver]  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  Perhaps  the  substitution  of  laver  for 
washing  brings  out  better  the  reference  to  the 
baptismal  font  ;  but  it  makes  no  great  difference. 
As  regards  the  meaning  of  this  passage  there 
is  no  diversity  of  opinion  whatever  among  the 
writers  of  the  early  Church,  and  it  is  used  in  the 
early  Liturgies  with  this  meaning.  Even  Calvin 
admits  the  reference  to  baptism  in  this  passage, 
summing  up  its  meaning  in  these  words  :  '*  God 
has  saved  us  by  His  mercy,  of  which  salvation  He 
has  given  us  a  sign  and  pledge  in  baptism,  re- 
ceiving us  into  His  Church  and  grafting  us  into 
the  Body  of  His  Son." 

If  these  are  the  only  passages  which  refer  to 
Baptism  as  the  instrument  of  Regeneration  di- 
rectly and  precisely,  there  are  other  texts  which 
teach  the  same  doctrine  in  different  forms.     We 


1 8  HOL  V  BAP  TISM. 

need  do  little  more  than  quote  the  words  without 
arguing  for  the  meaning  which  they  convey.  Take 
first  those  which  declare  that  Baptism  is  the  in- 
strument of  our  engrafting  into  Christ.  Begin  with 
Galatians  iii.  27,  28,  *'  For  as  many  of  you  as  were 
baptized  into  Christ  did  put  on  Christ.  There  can 
be  neither} ew  nor  Greek,  there  can  be  neither  bond 
nor  free,  there  can  be  no  male  and  female:  for  ye 
are  all  one  man  in  Christ  Jesus."  Note  how  the 
revised  version  of  the  first  sentence  brings  out  with 
greater  distinctness  the  reference  to  the  moment 
of  baptism  and  the  consequences  which  resulted 
from  it. 

Take  next  i  Corinthians  xii.  13.  **  For  in  one 
Spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether 
Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or  free  ;  and  were 
all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit."  Of  course  it 
may  be  urged  that  there  is  here  simply  a  reference 
to  a  baptism  of  the  Spirit  without  any  reference 
to  the  Sacrament ;  and,  if  the  words  stood  by 
themselves,  it  might  be  difficult,  or  even  impossible 
to  decide  the  reference  ;  but  the  connexion 
between  these  words  and  those  just  quoted  from 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  is  so  clear  that  it  is 
hardly  possible  to  doubt  their  application. 

Or  again,  on  this  point,  take  Romans  vi.  3,  4, 
and  connect  with  this  passage  Colossians  ii.  12, 
and  Ephesians  iv.  5.  **Are  ye  ignorant  that  all 
we   who   were   baptized  into   Christ  Jesus   were 


HOLY  BAPTISM.  19 

baptized  into  His  death  ?  We  were  buried  there- 
fore with  Him  through  baptism  into  death."  It 
is  possible  that  there  may  be  here  an  allusion  to 
the  mode  of  baptism  by  immersion ;  but  this  is 
by  no  means  certain  ;  and  in  any  case  it  does  not 
exhaust  the  meaning  of  the  passage.  The  teach- 
ing of  the  text  is  the  same  which  we  have 
found  elsewhere,  namely,  that  Baptism  is  the 
instrument  of  our  engrafting  into  Christ ;  but  that, 
being  engrafted,  we  are  members  of  one  who  died 
and  was  buried  and  rose  again,  and  therefore  we 
are  participators  in  His  death.  His  burial,  and  His 
resurrection.  If  we  are  admitted  into  the  mystical 
Body  of  Christ,  then  we  are  united  to  Christ 
Himself.  If  we  are  united  to  Christ,  then  we  are 
united  to  Christ  crucified,  dead,  buried,  ascended. 
Whatever  He  did.  He  did  on  our  behalf.  And 
into  all  that  He  did  we  enter,  when  we  are  united 
to  Him. 

Another  set  of  texts  connects  the  Sacrament  of 
Baptism  with  the  forgiveness  of  sin  and  salvation. 
Thus,  even  S.  John  the  Baptist  preached  the 
baptism  of  repentance  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins; 
but  when  the  Day  of  Pentecost  was  come,  then 
something  more  certain  and  more  definite  was 
assured  to  those  who  rightly  received  this  Sacra- 
ment :  "  Repent  and  be  baptized,  that  your  sins 
may  be  blotted  out."  And  how  ?  Simply  by  their 
reception  into    the    Covenant    body.      Personal 


20  HOL  Y  BAP  TISM. 

repentance  sufficed  for  personal  forgiveness  ;  but 
baptism  was  the  means  by  which  they  passed  over 
from  the  world  to  the  Church,  from  the  order  of 
nature  to  the  order  of  grace.  All  this  is  implied  in 
the  declaration,  "  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized 
shall  be  saved." 

To  the  same  effect  are  the  words  spoken  to  S. 
Paul  after  his  conversion  :  ''Arise  and  be  baptized, 
and  wash  away  thy  sins  "  (Acts  xxii.  i6).  These 
would  be  very  surprising  words,  if  we  accepted 
the  theory  that  all  that  is  needed  is  repentance 
and  faith  in  order  to  a  perfect  Christian  life. 
When  these  words  were  spoken  to  Saul  of  Tarsus, 
he  was  already  what  we  should  call  a  converted 
man.  He  was  a  believer  in  Jesus  as  the  Messiah, 
the  Saviour  of  the  world.  And  yet  he  is  told  that 
he  must  now,  still,  wash  away  his  sins  in  baptism. 
There  is  no  shadow  of  difficulty  in  understanding 
these  words  if  we  accept  the  Church  doctrine  of 
Baptism,  and  there  is  no  possibility  of  explaining 
them,  as  far  as  we  have  heard  or  can  imagine,  if 
we  reject  that  doctrine.  When  those  words  were 
spoken,  S.  Paul  was  a  penitent  and  a  believer,  but 
he  was  not  yet  a  member  of  the  Covenant  Body, 
and  he  could  not  be  a  member  until  he  was  united 
to  it  by  Baptism.  But  until  then  he  did  not 
belong  to  the  number,  the  community  of  the 
adopted,  the  pardoned,  the  regenerate  When  he 
was   baptized,  he   would   then   be   a   member  of 


HOL  V  BAP  TISM.  2 1 

Christ,  as  a  part  of  His  mystical  Body,  and  there- 
fore he  would  receive  the  remission  of  sins  in 
Him.  In  the  same  way  we  may  explain  the  words 
of  S.  Peter  (i  Peter  iii.  21) :  "  Water,  which  also 
after  a  true  likeness  doth  now  save  you,  even  bap- 
tism, not  the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh, 
but  the  interrogation  of  a  good  conscience  toward 
God,  through  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ." 
There  are  difficulties  in  the  passage,  but  the  refer- 
ence to  baptism  and  the  meaning  of  the  reference 
are  clear  enough.  The  power  of  the  new  life  is 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  resurrection 
was  the  regeneration  of  mankind.  *'  The  God  and 
Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  .  .  .  according  to 
His  great  mercy  begat  us  again  to  a  living  hope  by 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead  " 
(i  Peter  i.  3).  Now,  Baptism  is  the  means  by 
which  we  are  united  to  Jesus  Christ  risen,  and 
thus  made  partakers  of  His  risen  life  which  is 
salvation.  Therefore  we  may  say  that  Baptism 
doth  save  us  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Yet  this  salvation  cannot  be  our  own  by  a  mere 
external  washing.  There  must  be  the  correspon- 
dence of  a  good  conscience  within.  For  the  new 
heart  and  the  right  spirit,  the  spirit  of  faith  and 
hope  and  love,  this  alone  is  salvation. 

It  would  be  easy  to  enlarge  these  remarks  by 
discussing  the  various  theories  which  have  been 
put  up  in  opposition  to  the  Catholic  doctrine;  but 


22  HOLY  BAPTISM. 

perhaps  enough  has  been  said  to  put  the  student 
on  the  right  track  for  following  out  the  bearings 
of  the  doctrine  ;  and  it  may  be  more  useful  to 
give  a  brief  historical  view  in  regard  to  the  doctrine 
of  Baptism  as  held  in  the  different  ages  of  the 
Church. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  writers  of  the  first  three 
centuries  of  the  Church,  and  first  with  the  Apos- 
tolic Fathers.  The  writer  of  the  homily  formerly 
known  as  the  second  epistle  of  S.Clement  of  Rome, 
has  words  (chap,  vi.)  which  plainly  imply  the  doc- 
trine. *'  How,"  he  asks,  **  can  we  hope  to  enter 
into  the  royal  palace  of  God  unless  we  keep  our 
baptism  holy  and  undefiled  ?  "  S.  Barnabas  (chap, 
xi.)  says,  "  This  meaneth  that  we  descend  into  the 
water  full  of  sins  and  defilement,  but  come  up, 
bearing  fruit  in  our  heart,  having  the  fear  of  God 
and  trust  in  Jesus  in  our  spirit." 

We  pass  on  to  Justin  Martyr.  One  out  of 
several  passages  teaching  substantially  the  same 
doctrine  will  suffice.  It  is  from  the  longer  apology, 
chap.  Ixi.  Speaking  of  Christian  converts  he 
says  :  '*  Then  they  are  brought  by  us  where  there 
is  water,  and  are  regenerated  in  the  same  manner 
in  which  we  were  ourselves  regenerated."  The 
whole  chapter  should  be  read,  and  there  are  other 
passages  in  his  writings  to  the  same  effect.  So  S. 
Clement  of  Alexandria  (Paedagog.  i.  6,  26)  affirms 
that  '*  in  being  baptized  we  are  enhghtened,  in  be- 


HOL  Y  BAPTISM.  23 

ing  enlightened  we  are  adopted,  in  being  adopted 
we  are  made  perfect."  .We  might  quote  Irenaeus, 
Tertuliian,  and  Cyprian  to  the  same  effect,  but 
these  may  suffice  as  primitive  testimonies. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Eastern  Church  may  be 
seen  from  the  office  for  Holy  Baptism^  in  which 
after  baptism  it  is  said,  ''  Thou  hast  now  vouch- 
safed a  new  birth  to  Thy  servant  of  late  illuminat- 
ed through  water  and  the  Spirit,  and  hast  granted 
him  remission  of  his  voluntary  and  involuntary 
sins  ;"  and  from  the  Great  Catechism  f  in  which 
baptism  is  pronounced  to  be  ''  a  mystery  by  which, 
when  the  body  is  washed  in  water,  the  soul  of  the 
believer  is  cleansed  from  sins  by  the  blood  of 
Christ,"  with  much  more  to  the  same  effect. 

A  single  extract  from  the  Catechism  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  (Sacraments,  chap.  ii.  25)  will 
serve  to  show,  the  Roman  doctrine  of  Baptism. 
"  It  follows  that  Baptism  may  be  accurately  and 
appositely  defined  to  be  the  *  Sacrament  of  Re- 
generation by  water  in  the  word."* 

It  is  probable  that  these  testimonies  will  have 
but  little  influence  with  those  whom  we  have  in 
mind.  It  ought,  however,  to  be  more  to  our  pur- 
pose to  show  that  the  teaching  of  the  other  re- 
formed Communions  do  not  in  this  respect  differ 
from  our  own  ;  and  although,  as  we  shall  see,  there 
is  one  important  difference  between  the  teaching 

*  Littledale,  Offices ^  pp.  26,  146.  t  London  (1867),  p.  26. 


24  HOL  V  BAP  TISM. 

of  the  Anglican  formularies  and  the  Calvinistic 
Confessions,  this  difference  has  reference  not  to 
the  meaning  of  the  ordinance,  but  to  the  extent 
of  its  application  and  effect.  The  reformers  with 
one  voice  connected  the  blessing  of  Regeneration 
with  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  as  a  few  extracts 
from  the  various  confessions  will  clearly  show. 

We  begin  with  the  Helvetic  Confession  (chap. 
XX.) :  **  Obsignantur  haec  omnia  baptismo.  Nam 
intus  regeneramur,  purificamur,  et  renovamur  a 
Deo  per  Spiritum  Sanctum  :  foris  autem  accipi- 
mus  obsignationem  maximorum  donorum  in  aqua, 
qua  etiam  maxima  ilia  beneficia  representantur,  et 
veluti  oculis  nostris  conspicienda  proponuntur." 
The  Augsburg  Confession  (chap,  ix.)  teaches  thus: 
"  De  Baptismo  docent,  quod  necessarius  sit  ad 
salutem,  tanquam  ceremonia  a  Christo  instituta. 
Et  quod  per  Baptismum  offeratur  gratia  Dei  :  et 
quod  Infantes  sint  baptizandi :  et  quod  Infantes 
per  Baptismum  Deo  commendati,  recipiantur  in 
gratiam  Dei,  et  fiant  Filii  Dei,  sicut  Christus  tes- 
tatum" In  the  Saxon  Confession  (chap,  xiv.)  we 
read :  "  In  hujus  veri  Dei  nomen,  id  est  invoca- 
tionem,  te  baptizo  .  .  .  et  certo  statues  tibi  tribui 
beneficia  quae  in  Evangelio  promisit,  te  esse  mem- 
brum  Ecclesiae  Dei,  quae  per  FiHum  redempta  est, 
et  sanctificatur  a  Spiritu  Sancto.'* 

Leaving  the  foreign  Confessions,  from  others  of 
which  testimonies  equally  strong  and  clear  might 


HOLY  BAPTISM.  25 

be  adduced,  we  turn  to  the  Confession  agreed 
upon  by  the  Presbyterians  and  Independents  of 
England,  at  Westminster,  and  since  adopted  by 
the  various  Presbyterian  Churches  throughout  the 
EngHsh-speaking  world.  In  chap,  xxviii.  of  the 
Westminster  Confession  it  is  written  :  '*  Baptism 
is  a  Sacrament  of  the  New  Testament,  ordained 
by  Jesus  Christ,  not  only  for  the  solemn  admission 
of  the  party  baptized  into  the  visible  Church,  but 
also  to  be  unto  him  a  sign  and  seal  of  the  Cove- 
nant of  grace,  of  his  ingrafting  into  Christ,  of 
regeneration,  of  the  remission  of  sins,  and  of  his 
giving  up  unto  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  walk 
in  newness  of  life."  The  same  is  taught  in  the 
larger  and  shorter  Catechisms. 

There  is,  therefore,  as  we  have  said,  no  difference 
in  any  of  these  Confessions,  Roman,  Greek,  Angli- 
can, Protestant,  Lutheran,  Calvinistic,  as  to  the  es- 
sential meaning  and  significance  of  the  Sacrament 
of  Baptism ;  but  there  is,  in  some  of  the  Calvinistic 
Confessions,  an  important  reservation  which  we 
must  not  disregard.  According  to  these  authori- 
ties the  blessings  of  baptism  are  bestowed  only 
upon  the  elect.  The  Westminster  Confession,  for 
example,  declares  (chap,  xxviii.,  sect.  5)  that  we 
have  no  right  to  say  that  ''all  that  are  baptized  are 
undoubtedly  regenerated,"  and  (in  the  following 
section)  that  *'  the  grace  promised  is  not  only 
offered,  but  really  exhibited  and  conferred  by  the 


26  HOL  V  BAP  TISM, 

Holy  Ghost,  to  such  as  that  grace  belongeth  to^ 
according  to  the  counsel  of  God's  own  willy  in  His 
appointed  timer  Such  a  reservation  was  inevitable 
on  the  part  of  those  who  held  the  theories  of 
special  individual  election  and  indefectible  grace. 
If  grace  once  given  can  never  finally  be  lost,  then 
we  must  either  believe  that  all  baptized  persons 
will  be  saved,  or  else  that  some  persons  do  not  re- 
ceive grace  in  baptism.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
add  that,  whatever  may  be  the  truth  as  regards 
the  mystery  of  predestination,  there  is  no  pretence 
of  any  ground  in  Scripture  for  this  limitation  of  the 
application  of  the  blessings  of  Baptism. 

But  here  we  are  met  by  certain  questions  which 
demand  an  answer,  and  first,  that  which  concerns 
the  subjects  of  baptism  and  more  particularly 
the  question  of  the  baptism  of  infants.  This  is, 
of  couse,  a  large  subject,  and  cannot  be  treated 
satisfactorily  in  this  place ;  yet  there  are  some 
considerations  which  may  be  suggested  which,  by 
being  followed  out,  may  give  us  something  like 
moral  certainity  on  this  point. 

By  the  opponents  of  Infant  Baptism  it  is  urged 
that  if  children  are  joined  to  the  mystical  Body  of 
Christ,  then  they  become  Christians  unconsciously, 
and  secondly,  that  there  is  no  authority  for  the 
baptism  of  infants  in  the  New  Testament.  With 
regard  to  the  first  of  these  difficulties,  it  is  perhaps 
sufficient  to  point  out  that  there  is  no  more  diffi- 


HOL  V  BAPTISM.  2/ 

culty  about  explaining  the  fact  of  a  child's  becom- 
ing, in  a  state  of  unconsciousness,  a  member  of 
Christ,  than  his  becoming  a  member  of  Adam  in 
the  same  manner.  If  our  natural  birth  is  some- 
thing in  which  we  have  no  conscious  part,  then  it 
does  not  seem  unreasonable  that  it  should  be  the 
same  with  our  spiritual  birth.  And  perhaps  so 
much  may  suffice  on  that  point. 
With  regard  to  the  absence  of  Scripture  testimony, 
it  is  very  difficult  to  see  how  any  such  authority 
could  be  given  in  the  New  Testament  which 
might  not  be  evaded  by  those  who  were  disin- 
clined to  receive  it.  Let  it  be  remembered  that 
there  is  very  little  in  the  way  of  bare  precept  in 
the  New  Testament.  As  a  rule,  it  is  simply  prin- 
ciples which  are  enunciated,  and  the  Church  and 
the  individual  Christian  are  left  to  apply  them 
according  to  their  circumstances  and  their  needs. 
For  example,  there  is  nothing  at  all  said  about 
the  religious  use  of  the  Lord's  Day,  yet  most 
Christians  consider  it  obligatory  upon  them  to 
have  a  special  mode  of  observing  that  day. 

It  will  appear,  however,  as  we  believe,  that  to  a 
careful  and  candid  reader  of  the  New  Testament 
there  is  a  great  deal  which  favours  the  baptism  of 
infants,  and  constrains  us  to  believe  that  such  a 
custom  is  in  accordance  with  the  mind  of  Christ. 

When  our  Lord  says,  ''  Suffer  the  little  chil- 
dren to  come  unto  Me,  and  forbid  them  not,"  we 


28  HOL  V  BAP  TISM, 

cannot,  of  course,  maintain  that  these  words 
require  that  children  should  be  baptized,  yet  they 
seem  naturally  to  suggest  that  they  should  not 
be  excluded  from  discipleship,  and  therefore  that 
they  should  be  admitted  to  the  membership  of 
the  Church. 

When  S.  Peter  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  sum- 
moned his  kindred  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  to 
accept  the  Messiah  and  to  become  subjects  of  His 
Kingdom,  he  certainly  appeared  to  include  young 
children  in  the  offer.  "■  Repent  and  be  baptized 
every  one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for 
the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  the  promise  is  unto  you 
and  to  your  children,  and  to  all  that  are  afar  off, 
even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call " 
(Acts  ii.  38,  39).  It  is  quite  possible  that  "  chil- 
dren "  here  might  mean  descendants,  but  we  do  not 
think  that  such  is  the  natural  meaning  of  the 
word.  Should  we  be  likely  thus  to  interpret  the 
expression,  if  we  had  no  preconceived  opinion 
to  maintain  ?  And,  in  short,  if  we  are  to  explain 
away  the  natural  sense  of  the  Apostle's  statement, 
what  argument  for  the  baptism  of  children  could 
be  imagined  that  would  suffice? 

It  would  have  seemed  a  strange  thing  to  the 
Israelite  to  be  told  that  his  children  could  have  no 
interest  in  the  covenant  the  full  blessings  of  which 
could  now  for  the  first  time  be  realized.      For,  in 


HOL  V  BAP  TISM.  29 

point  of  fact,  they  were  already  included  in  the 
Covenant  of  faith.  The  Covenant  of  Christ  was  a 
new  covenant,  if  compared  with  the  law  of  Moses  ; 
but  it  was  also  the  same  Covenant  which  was 
made  with  Abraham.  This  is  plainly  taught  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  The  Law  was  a 
mere  parenthesis,  so  to  speak,  introduced  for 
special  reasons,  to  prepare  for  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  to  bring  out  man's  need  of  redemption 
and  the  Hke  ;  but  the  Covenant  of  Christ  was  a 
covenant  of  faith  as  that  of  Abraham  was  ;  and  it 
would  be  strange  indeed  that  children  under  the 
Law  might  be  members  of  the  Covenant,  and 
under  the  Gospel  they  might  not.  But  the  case 
would  be  even  worse  than  this.  For,  according  to 
the  theory  that  children  cannot  be  members  of 
the  Church  of  Christ,  we  should  have  to  believe 
that  the  members  of  a  Jewish  family  were  in 
Covenant  with  God  so  long  as  the  Gospel  of  Christ 
was  unknown  to  them,  but  the  moment  that  the 
parents  received  Christian  baptism,  the  children 
lost  their  place  in  the  covenant  body.  They 
would  be  no  longer  members  of  the  Jewish 
commonwealth,  and  the  Church  of  Christ  has  shut 
its  doors  upon  them.  Surely  it  needs  no  texts  of 
Scripture  to  render  any  such  theory  impossible  of 
belief  to  those  whe  have  entered  into  the  spirit  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

The  practice  of  the  Apostles,  as  far  as  we  know 


30  HOL  Y  BAP  TISM. 

it,  entirely  harmonizes  with  the  view  that  not  the 
heads  of  families  alone  were  received  into  the 
Church.  The  baptism  of  three  thousand  on  the 
Day  of  Pentecost  is  an  event  which  could  not 
have  happened,  if  the  Apostles  had  held  the  theory 
of  modern  Baptists.  The  baptism  of  whole 
families,  even  if  there  were  no  children  in  them, 
which  is  not  very  likely,  is  equally  unintelligible, 
if  only  those  are  to  be  baptized  who  are  the  sub- 
jects of  conscious  and  established  faith  in  Christ. 
Moreover,  in  the  Epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and 
the  Colossians,  which  are  addressed  "  to  the  saints 
which  are  at  Ephesus,  and  to  the  faithful  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  and  ''to  the  saints  and  faithful  brethren 
which  are  at  Colosse,"  among  other  classes  ad- 
dressed there  are  children,  evidently  young  chil- 
dren still  in  a  position  of  dependence  upon  their 
parents,  who  are  yet  regarded  as  baptized,  as 
Christians,  as  members  of  the  Church. 

As  regards  early  "^testimony  we  may  remark 
generally  that  there  is  nothing  against  the  prac- 
tice of  infant  baptism.  Even  TertuUian,  when 
advocating  the  postponement  of  baptism,  proves 
that  infant  baptism  was  customary  in  his  days, 
and  he  does  not  suggest  that  it  is  an  innovation. 
His  reason  for  wishing  to  put  it  off  was  the 
danger  of  post-baptismal  sin.     ''  That  infant  bap- 


*  Hagenbsich,  History  of  Doctrines,  i,  s,  5. 


HOLY  BAPTISM,  3 1 

tism  was  customary  in  Tertullian*s  time  is  proved 
by  his  opposition  to  it."* 

All  the  other  early  testimonies  are  to  the  same 
effect.  Thus  Justin  Martyr f  testifies:  ''Many, 
both  men  and  women,  of  sixty  and  seventy  years 
old,  who  were  made  disciples  to  Christ  from  child- 
hood, remain  uncorrupted."  The  word  "  made 
disciples  "  is  the  same  which  occurs  in  our  Lord's 
commission  to  the  Apostles,  as  recorded  by  St. 
Matthew,  and  undoubtedly  refers  to  the  enrolment 
of  these  children  into  the  Church  of  Christ. 

To  this  we  may  add  the  testimony  of  Irenaeus.J 
His  words  are,  *'  For  He  came  to  save  all  by  Him- 
self ;  all,  I  say,  who  through  Him  are  born  again 
{renascuntur)  to  God  ;  infants  and  little  ones  and 
boys  and  young  persons  and  older  persons  {infan- 
tes et  parvulos  et  pueros  et  Juvenes  et  senior es)^ 
Here  there  can  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  classes  in- 
tended ;  and  as  regards  the  meaning  of  the  word 
renascuntur  there  can  hardly  be  a  difference  of 
opinion.  Not  only  does  it  naturally  suggest  the 
idea  of  baptism  in  this  passage,  but  this  is  the 
almost  universal  usage  of  the  writer.  Both 
Neander  and  Gieseler,  who  are  the  most  impartial 

♦The  importance  of  the  appeal  to  history  is  now  generally  recognized. 
Tradition,  if  real,  is  of  the  highest  value.  We  do  not  reject  the  modern 
doctrines  of  the  Church  of  Rome  because  they  appeal  to  tradition  ;  but 
because  they  are  not  supported  by  tradition.  They  are  innovations.  It 
has  been  truly  said  that  "the  true  criticism  of  a  dogma  is  its  history"  ; 
and  if  we  find  that  our  interpretations  of  Scripture  are  unsupported  by 
primitive  testimony,  we  may  well  suspect  their  validity. 

t  Longer  Apology,  chap.  xv.  XAdversus  Haereses,  ii.  39. 


32  HOLY  BAPTISM. 

witnesses,  assert  that  in  this  place  the  word  can 
be  understood  only  of  baptism.*  Here  then  we 
have  not  only  a  testimony  to  infant  baptism  in  the 
second  century,  but  also  an  assertion  of  baptismal 
regeneration. 

In  speaking  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Protestant 
Confessions,  we  remarked  that  some  of  them 
limited  the  grace  of  baptism  to  those  who  were 
elected  or  predestinated  to  eternal  life.  It  is  not 
necessary  that  we  should  discuss  a  theory  which 
few  in  these  days  would  maintain. 

Whatever  Baptism  does,  it  does  for  all  who 
rightly  receive  it  ;  and  as  children  can  place  no  bar 
to  the  operation  of  the  grace  of  the  sacrament,  it 
is  not  merely  a  matter  of  faith,  but  a  matter  of 
common  sense,  to  say  that  every  baptized  child  is, 
in  the  act  of  baptism,  grafted  into  the  mystical 
Body  of  Christ. 

Other  forms  of  this  hypothetical  theory  of 
Baptismal  Regeneration  have  been  put  forward 
and  abandoned,  so  that  they  need  not  further 
detain  us.  But  it  may  be  useful  to  note  two  things 
concerning  these  theories  as  being  of  some  practi- 
cal importance.  On  the  one  hand,  we  note  a 
strange  error  into  which  those  have  fallen  who 
think  that  this  doctrine  interferes  with  the 
sufficiency  of  the  work  of  Christ  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  has  been  strangly  charged  with  leading 

*Neander,  Kirchengeschicte,  i.  3.     Gieseler,  Dogmengeschichte^  i. 


HOL  Y  BAP TISM.  3 3 

to  the  undervaluing  of  the  obligation  of  personal 
religion. 

The  former  of  these  errors  has  already  been 
virtually  disposed  of.  Baptism  could  be  of  no  value 
at  all  but  for  the  work  of  Redemption  accomplished 
by  the  grace  of  God.  The  gift  of  Christ,  the  Incar- 
nation of  the  Eternal  Word,  the  sacrifice  of  the  Son 
of  God  upon  the  cross,  here  is  the  foundation  of 
man's  hope  of  safety  ;  and  this  is  the  outcome  of  the 
love  of  God  our  heavenly  Father.  But  further, 
when  the  blessings  of  the  work  of  redemption  were 
to  be  extended  to  all  mankind,  it  was  the  will  of  God 
that  this  should  be  done  by  means  of  that  super- 
natural society,  the  Church  of  Christ,  which  was 
on  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  organized  by  the  presence 
and  energy  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  God  has 
ordained  that  we  shall  be  received  into  that 
society  by  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism.  Surely 
there  is  here  no  ignoring  of  the  all-important 
work  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  in  providing  for 
man's  salvation. 

But  neither,  on  the  other  hand,  is  there  any 
sHghting  of  the  indispensable  condition  of  per- 
sonal faith,  personal  spiritual  life.  When  we 
graft  a  branch  into  the  vine,  or  into  any  other 
plant  or  tree,  do  we  say  that  this  grafting  dis- 
penses with  the  necessity  of  life  in  the  branch — 
that  it  is  enough  that  this  new  member  should 
adhere  externally  to  the  trunk  without  having  the 


34  HOL  V  BAP  TISM. 

living  sap  of  the  tree  circulating  through  its  own 
fibres  ?  On  the  contrary,  we  say  that  we  graft  the 
branch  into  the  parent  stem  that  it  may  receive 
life  from  it.  We  say  that  it  cannot  have  true  and 
sufficient  life  unless  it  is  so  connected  ;  and  fur- 
ther, we  say  that,  unless  it  actually  does  receive 
such  life,  it  will  cease  to  be  a  part  of  that  living 
organism,  and  will  be  broken  off  and  cast  away. 
Every  point  in  this  analogy  holds  in  regard  to  the 
baptism  of  children  or  of  adults  into  the  Church 
of  Christ. 

And  here  we  note  the  measure  of  truth  which 
has  given  currency  to  the  hypothetical  view  of 
the  privileges  of  Baptism.  There  is  a  sense  in 
which  those  blessings  are  unconditional,  and  there 
is  a  sense  in  which  they  may  be  said  to  be  con- 
ditional. What  privilege  is  by  God's  ordinance 
attached  to  the  Sacrament  is  certainly  uncondi- 
tional. Where  baptism  is  duly  administered  and 
rightly  received,  the  baptized  person  is  truly 
united  to  the  Church  which  is  the  Body  of  Christ, 
the  Temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Family  of 
God.  These  blessings  are  verily  ours.  We  can 
give  thanks  for  them.     We  can  stand  upon  them. 

But  these  gifts  and  blessings  do  not  ensure  the 
salvation  or  the  sanctification  of  those  who  receive 
them.  All  the  spiritual  blessings  of  the  life  of 
grace  are  strictly  conditional  even  to  those  who 
have  been  baptized,  and  may  be  forfeited  or  en- 


HOLY  BAPTISM.  35 

joyed  just  as  we  lay  hold  of  them,  appropriate 
them,  make  them  our  own  in  a  life  of  humble  ab- 
negation, of  steadfast  faith,  and  of  earnest  hope 
and  love.  We  may  sell  our  birthright,  if  we  please, 
and  cast  away  our  inheritance.  We  may,  like  the 
great  examples  of  unbelief,  think  ''  scorn  of  that 
pleasant  land  "  which  is  provided  for  us ;  or  we 
may  go  on  and  enjoy  the  milk  and  honey  which 
are  ever  flowing  within  its  boundaries.  But  at 
any  rate  these  blessings  have  been  provided  for 
us  and  they  are  ours  unless  we  reject  or  neglect 
them. 

And  here  is  the  answer  to  those  who  ask  us 
what  benefit  or  profit  there  is  then  in  baptism, 
since  it  does  not  secure  our  salvation  and  may 
even  increase  our  guilt.  What  should  we  say  to 
the  man  who  asked  us  what  profit  there  was  in 
being  an  Englishman  or  an  American  ?  Should 
we  allow  that  there  was  nothing  in  these  names, 
because  many  of  those  who  bore  them  were 
unworthy  of  them  ?  And,  in  like  manner,  shall 
not  we  glory  in  our  spiritual  birthright  and  give 
thanks  to  Him  who  has  called  us  out  of  darkness 
into  His  own  marvellous  light?  And  shall  we 
not  find,  in  the  consciousness  of  this  privilege,  an 
incentive  and  a  help  to  live  no  longer  to  ourselves, 
but  to  Him  who  died  for  us  and  has  risen  again? 

God  hath  given  unto  us  eternal  life,  and  this 
life  is  in   His  Son.     To  all  mankind  is  this  gift 


36  HOL  V  BAPTISM. 

assured.  Christ  was  incarnate  and  lived  and  died 
and  rose  again  for  the  whole  human  race.  *'  We 
thus  judge  that  when  One  died  for  all,  then  all 
died,"  and  so  when  One  rose,  all  were  raised  up 
with  Him.  And  yet  these  blessings  have  a  pecu- 
liar meaning  to  those  who  have  been  by  baptism 
brought  into  the  redeemed  and  regenerated  com- 
munity, the  Church  of  God.  These  gifts  of  grace 
are  ours.  We  have  no  right  to  cast  them  away. 
We  have  not  even  to  labour  for  them,  we  have  only 
to  enter  into  them  and  to  possess  them.  And  so 
shall  we  learn  the  lesson  of  dying  to  self  and  the 
world  and  living  to  God,  of  crucifying  the  old  man 
that  the  new  man  may  arise  within  us  ;  so  that 
we  may  be  able  to  enter  into  that  experience  of 
the  Apostle  when  he  says  :  *'I  have  been  crucified 
with  Christ,  yet  I  live;  and  yet  no  longer  I,  but 
Christ  liveth  in  me;  and  that  life  which  I  now 
live  in  the  flesh  I  live  in  faith,  the  faith  which  is 
in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  Him- 
self up  for  me  "  (Gal.  ii.  20). 


^be  %ovb'B  Supper* 


LECTURE   II. 

THE   REVEREND   G.    McCLELLAN   FISKE,    D.D., 
Rector  of  S.  Stephen's  Church,  Providence,  R.  I. 

THE  LORD'S  SUPPER, 

+  In  the  Name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Amen. 

In  approaching  this  august  subject,  gentle- 
men, on  which  I  have  been  invited  to  address 
you,  let  me,  first  of  all,  affirm  my  sincere  inten- 
tion to  speak  in  filial  submission  to  the  One,  Holy, 
Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church. 

And  may  the  Holy  Spirit  guide  and  keep  from 
error  both  in  faith  and  life  each  one  of  us,  who 
draws  near  to  contemplate  the  venerable  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Altar. 

For  that  Sacrament  is  the  most  conspicuous 
practical  feature  of  the  Church.  It  is  the  high- 
est act  of  worship.  It  is  admittedly  the  most 
solemn  ministration  pertaining  to  the  individual 
religious  life,  and  it  is,  as  Dean  Church  "^  suggests, 

*  "Oxford  Movement,"  p.  56. 


40  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

"the  foundation  of  ecclesiastical  discipline  and 
authority."  Believing  then  that  the  Church  has 
a  reliable  tradition  concerning  this  great  Sacra- 
ment, we  will  examine  three  distinguishing  fea- 
tures of  this  tradition,  viz: 

I.  The  Sacrifice. 

II.  The  Real  Presence. 

III.  The  Communion. 

I.  Worship  is  the  instinct  of  a  rational  crea- 
ture. It  is  the  confession  of  his  sense  of  the 
distance  between  himself  and  his  Creator.  He 
records  his  experience  of  the  contrast  in  the  out- 
cry,* "  O  my  soul,  thou  hast  said  unto  the  Lord 
*  Thou  art  my  God,'  my  goods  are  nothing  unto 
Thee."     He  must  fall  down  and  adore. 

Worship  being  the  motion  of  a  loving  heart 
and  an  admiring  mind  in  the  presence  of  the  Heart 
of  hearts  and  the  Mind  of  minds  expresses  itself 
in  sacrifice.  Who  does  not  understand  the  feel- 
ing which  exclaims,  "  What  can  we  give  to  one  we 
love? "  The  best  things  which  we  have  must 
attest  our  homage,  and  then  we  must  give  our- 
selves. The  Magi  not  only  opened  their  treasures 
and  offered  precious  gifts,  but  they  fell  down  and 
worshipped.  They  would  give  not  only  gold 
and  myrrh  and  incense,  but  they  would  ^\v^  them- 
selves. 

This  is  the  primary  account  of  sacrifice.     It  is 

*  Ps.  xvi.  2. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  41 

the  worship  of  dependent  beings  wholly  carried 
away  by  the  fulness  of  their  love.  It  is  the  giv- 
ing of  one's  self.  It  is  the  principle  of  that  wor- 
ship which  angels  in  Heaven  offer,  and  it  would 
seem  that  earth  has  never  been  without  it,  for, 
as  a  spiritual  writer  *  says :  "  Of  this  we  may  be 
certain,  when  the  prince  of  this  world  and  the 
powers  of  evil  first  turned  aside  to  seek  their  own 
glory  instead  of  using  God's  gifts  to  the  glory  of 
the  giver,  then  first  did  the  joy  of  holy  sacrifice 
cease,  and  the  world  which  had  been  an  altar 
became  a  desolation." 

In  the  earth  recalled  from  chaos  the  loving 
relation  to  God  of  its  new  inhabitant  and  mas- 
ter, man,  was  one  of  sacrifice.  The  tree  of  the 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  stood  for  that  sac- 
rifice which  man  made  in  maintaining  union  with 
God,  for  it  told  of  the  sacrifice  of  man's  bodily 
appetite,  of  his  will,  and  of  his  reason.  When 
sin  came,  bringing  guilt  and  estrangement  from 
God,  sacrifice  remained  no  longer  the  full  and 
untarnished  love  of  the  innocent.  It  became  the 
tearful  worship  of  the  penitent.  Offerings,  like 
the  choicest  fruits  or  the  sweetest  flowers,  which 
should  declare  the  joyous  integrity  of  life,  no 
longer  would  suffice.  A  penal  element  had  en- 
tered into  the  essentials  of  a  sacrifice.  The  spirit, 
torn  in  pain  out  of  its  material  organism,  must 

*  Benson  :   "  Redemption." 


42  THE  LORDS  SUFFER. 

return  to  the  God  who  gave  it.  The  real  mystery 
of  suffering  and  death  is  the  mystery  of  Atone- 
ment. In  whatever  way  man  came  to  know  the 
law  that  without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no 
remission,  he  knew  it,  and  the  gravity  of  his  of- 
fence, who  would  ignore  it,  is  taught  us  by  the 
doom  of  Cain.  The  long  spiritual  history  of  fallen 
man  is  traced  by  this  scarlet  thread  of  bloody 
sacrifices.  The  most  prominent  landmarks  of 
the  wanderings  of  the  patriarchal  days  were  the 
altars,  in  whose  bleeding  victims  they  called  upon 
the  name  of  the  Lord. 

When  the  Church  of  God  began  to  have  a  set- 
tled habitation,  its  worship  appears  elaborated  in 
a  vast  and  complex  system  of  manifold  sacrifices 
expressive  of  the  different  sentiments  and  needs 
of  the  human  soul.  But  the  whole  array  was 
tinged  with  blood.  Tributes  of  praise  and  tri- 
umph and  pious  exultation  rose  to  Heaven  be- 
dewed with  blood. 

Two  of  the  grandest  occasions  of  rejoicing  that 
we  read  of,  Noah's  thanksgiving  after  the  flood 
and  Solomon's  dedication  of  the  Temple,  were 
celebrated  in  rivers  of  sacrificial  blood. 

And  yet  along  with  this  unbroken  line  of  bloody 
sacrifice  went  another  continuous  variety  of  sac- 
rifice in  the  offerings  of  bread  and  wine,  "  among 
the  heathen  races,  as  uniform  and  familiar  a 
feature  of  sacrifice   as  it  was  among  the   Jews 


THE  LORD'S  SUFFER.  43 

themselves."  ^  This  seemed  to  say  that  sacrifice 
is  not  essentially  and  originally  an  affair  of  blood. 
It  pointed  to  the  Eucharistic  phases  of  sacrifice, 
and  very  early  the  mysterious  figure  of  Melchis- 
edec,  as  King  of  Peace  and  Priest  of  God  Most 
High,  bringing  forth  bread  and  wine,  looked 
forward  to  a  tranquil  day  when  the  **  Priest  upon 
His  Throne  "  should  do  His  ofifice  and  be  still  a 
Priest,  though  in  doing  it  He  bleeds  and  dies 
again  no  more  forever. 

Now  for  almost  nineteen  hundred  years  last 
past,  the  bulk  of  Christendom,  those  great  Cath- 
olic bodies  which  have  maintained  an  unbroken 
succession  in  faith,  ministry,  and  sacraments, 
have  regarded  their  chief  service  of  worship,  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  as  a  sacrifice.  They  have  not 
hesitated  to  call  it  so.f  They  have  called  their 
clergy,  priests  and  the  most  honorable  office  of 
their  priesthood  has  been  held  to  be  the  conse- 
cration of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  The 
place  of  their  ministering  in  that  solemnity  has 
been  called  everywhere  the  Altar.  And  their 
Liturgies  have  been  full  of  sacrificial  language. 
Midmost  in  this  Altar-history  stands  the  Cross. 
It  marks  an  era  in  the  course  of  sacrifice.  With 
the  Cross  bloodshed  abruptly  ceases. 

What  does  this  signify?     Clearly  this :  Atone- 

*  Medd:  "  The  One  Mediator,"  Lecture  iv.  Willis  "  Worship 
of  the  Old  Covenant,"  viii.,  §  2;  ix.,  §  2.        f  Appendix.  Note  I. 


44  THE  LORD'S  SUFFER. 

ment  has  been  found.  "  It  is  finished,"  is  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Priest  and  Victim  who  has  wrought  it. 

Does  this  cessation  of  pain,  and  blood,  and 
death,  also  involve  the  cessation  of  sacrifice  as  a 
mode  of  worship?  It  would  seem  not.  The  sac- 
rificial principle  does  not  appear  to  be  done  away. 

The  sacrifice  of  Christ  was  a  perfect  sacrifice. 
He  was  wholly  acceptable  to  the  Father.  He 
was  the  offering  of  a  sweet-smelling  savor.  He 
made  a  perfect  act  of  worship.  He  gave  His 
body  to  be  scourged  and  torn  and  pierced  and 
smitten,  and  to  die.  He  made  a  complete  sur- 
render of  His  will.  He  poured  out  His  blood 
to  ransom  and  to  cleanse.  He  delivered  His 
spirit  into  His  Father's  hands."^  Adoration, 
propitiation,  love,  thanksgiving,  peace,  went 
forth  from  the  Cross.  It  was  a  perfect  worship 
by  a  perfect  sacrifice  of  infinite  merit.  It  need 
never  be  repeated  because  it  is  inexhaustible. 
It  can  never  be  repeated  because  it  is  beyond  all 
price.  He,  the  Gospel-Sacrifice,  summed  up  and 
fulfilled  all  the  multifold  sacrifices  of  the  law. 
He  Himself  was  the  true  holocaust  of  Self- 
Dedication.  He  was  the  real  Eucharistic  offer- 
ing of  Peace.  He  was  the  true,  the  very,  the 
one,  only,  all-sufficient    offering  of    Expiation. f 

*  '*  The  Highest  Worship:  "  Sermons  by  the  Paulists,  1864. 
f  Baring-Gould :     "  Our    Inheritance,"    chap,    xxxiv.     Willis: 
*'  Worship  of  the  Old  Covenant,"  iv,,  §  2. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  45 

He  was  at  once  the  plenitude  and  the  reality  of 
sacrifice.  "  It  is  finished."  No  more  pain.  No 
more  blood.  No  more  death.  It  could  receive 
no  additions.  Its  power  was  full  and  everlasting. 
He  offered  one  sacrifice  for  sins  forever.  This 
is  what  we  mean  by  the  Sacrifice  of  Christ  being 
finished.  As  an  act  of  His  will,  productive  in 
the  travail  of  His  soul  and  the  anguish  of  His 
body  of  an  eternal  efficacy,  it  is  finished.  But 
the  employment  and  application  of  that  eternally 
efficacious  act  are  still  going  on. 

That  is  to  say,  Christ  Himself  is  still  using  and 
applying  His  sacrifice,  and  in  that  sense  is  still 
sacrificing."^  He  suffers  no  more.  He  dies  no 
more.  But  He  presents  and  pleads  Hissacrifice.f 
'*  I  beheld,"  says  S.  John  the  Divine,  "and  lo!  in 
the  midst  of  the  throne  and  of  the  four  beasts, 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  elders  stood  a  Lamb  as 
it  had  been  slain."  So  we  might  have  expected 
from  our  being  told  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
that  Christ  is  entered  **  into  Heaven  itself,  now 
to  appear  in  the  presence  of  God  for  us."  % 

This  intercession  of  Christ  in  Heaven  is  not 
one  of  word  merely.  It  is  described  to  us  as  one 
of  action.  He  shows  Himself  as  marked  by  the 
Cross,  as  the  One  who  was  pierced,  as  the  One 
who  was  dead,  as  the  Lamb  once  slain.  All  this 
belongs  to   His   sacrifice,  to  its   perfection  and 

*  Appendix,  Note  II.  f  Rev.  v.  6.  %  Heb.  ix.  24. 


46  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

completeness.  We  must  include  in  Christ's  sac- 
rifice His  intercession  in  Heaven.  This  was 
taught  us  by  the  ancient  prefigurative  sacrifices. 
On  the  Day  of  Atonement  '^  the  sacrifice  in- 
cluded not  only  the  slaughter  of  the  victim,  but 
the  solitary  entrance  of  the  High  Priest  into  the 
Holy  of  Holies  and  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood 
before  the  Mercy-Seat.  This  latter  function  is 
fulfilled  in  what  Christ  does  in  Heaven  now.  His 
intercession  is  a  stage  of  His  sacrifice.  It  is  its 
crowning  act,  and  in  it  His  sacrifice  abides  in 
eternal  activity. 

Such  is  the  relation  between  the  Cross  and 
the  present  life  of  Christ  in  Heaven.  Of  each 
of  these  regarded  in  the  order  of  time  we  use 
the  name  of  sacrifice.  That  word  is  used  in 
concentric  circles  of  signification.  Christ  sacri- 
ficed on  the  Cross.  Christ  is  sacrificing  in  Hea- 
ven. They  are  successive  phases  of  one  vast 
transaction. 

That  the  present  work  of  our  Blessed  Lord  in 
Heaven  is  a  work  of  sacrifice  is  expressly  asserted 
by  the  fact  of  His  eternal  priesthood.  He  is  a 
Priest  forever.  Being  then  a  Priest  now  and 
always — "yesterday,  to-day  and  forever" — He 
must  of  necessity  have  somewhat  to  offer.  And, 
as  we  have  said.  He  offers  Himself  as  the  Lamb 
once  slain.  He  is  Victim  as  well  as  Priest.  "  A 
*  Lev.  xvi. 


THE   LORD'S  SUPPER,  47 

victim,  once  actually  sacrificed  by  death  and 
accepted,  may,  if  endued  with  new  and  never- 
ending  life,  be  continually  offered — i.e.,  presented, 
pleaded,  brought  into  remembrance  before  God. 
And  this  continual  offering  and  presentation  of  a 
sacrifice  once  made  is  itself  a  sacrificial  act,  and 
constitutes  him  who  does  it  a  priest  according 
to  S.  Paul's  definition,  *  one  ordained  for  men  in 
things  pertaining  to  God,  that  he  may  offer  both 
gifts  and  sacrifices  for  sins'  (Heb.  v.  i).  The  act 
of  offering  or  presenting  a  victim  is  a  sacrifice, 
though  that  victim  be  not,  as  of  old,  a  new  one 
slain  on  each  occasion,  nor  yet  the  same  slain 
anew  on  each  occasion.  It  is  a  true  sacrifice, 
though  the  victim  be  always  the  same,  not  slain 
anew,  but  offered  as  before  slain  once  for  all,  and 
'  after  the  power  of  an  endless  life,'  possessing  an 
abiding  virtue  foreverm.ore.  It  is  a  propitiatory 
sacrifice,  as  pleading  before  God  for  all  the 
successive  generations,  for  all  the  several  individ- 
uals of  the  human  race,  the  one  only  expiation 
once  made.'  ""^ 

Now  we  reach  this  point :  The  name  and  real- 
ity of  sacrifice  sublimated  from  death  and  blood 
are  transported  into  Heaven  as  their  sphere. 
We  see  how  Calvary  and  Heaven  are  connected, 
in  what  sense  they  are  one,  how  Calvary  lives  on 
and  is  used  in  Heaven. 

*  "  The  Church  and  the  World:  "  Eucharistic  Sacrifice. 


48  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

Here  the  question  arises — What  are  the  limits 
of  the  heavenly  sphere,  wherein  this  bloodless 
pleading  of  past  suffering  continually  proceeds? 
Is  earth  included  in  that  sphere?  According  to 
the  supernatural  order,  the  order  of  life  in  Christ, 
Heaven  and  Earth  are  one.  "  God  .  .  .  .  hath 
raised  us  up  together  and  made  us  sit  together 
in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus."*  '*Ye 
are  come  unto  Mount  Sion,  and  unto  the 
city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusa- 
lem, and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels, 
to  the  general  assembly  and  church  of  the 
first-born,  which  are  written  in  Heaven,  and 
to  God  the  Judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits 
of  just  men  made  perfect,  and  to  Jesus  the 
Mediator  of  the  new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood 
of  sprinkling,  that  speaketh  better  things  than 
that  of  Abel.'"  t 

If,  then.  Heaven  and  Earth  are  one,  if  we,  while 
yet  in  the  flesh,  are  standing  within  the  sphere 
of  the  eternal  High  Priest's  office,  it  is  clear  that 
we  must  have  some  expression  of  that  sacrifice 
and  priesthood  here  on  earth.  Christ,  suffering 
death  upon  the  Cross  for  our  redemption,  made 
there  by  His  one  oblation  of  Himself  once  of- 
fered ''a  full,  perfect  and  sufficient  sacrifice, 
oblation,  and  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world,"  but  that  does  not  mean  the  abro- 

*  Eph.  ii.  4-6.  f  Heb.  xii.,  22,  23,  24. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  49 

gation  of  sacrifice  on  earth  any  more  than  it 
means  the  abrogation  of  sacrifice  in  Heaven. 
Heaven  and  Earth  are  one,  and  as  Christ  sacri- 
fices in  Heaven  so  He  does  in  Earth,  and  we  call 
the  earthly  view  of  His  Intercessory  Sacrifice  the 
Holy  Eucharist. 

Now  there  is  a  two-fold  sense  in  which  the 
word  sacrifice  is  used,  an  absolute  and  a  relative 
sense.*  A  sacrifice  is  absolute  when  it  is  a  sac- 
rifice/^r  se^  in  itself,  alone  by  itself,  without  ref- 
erence to  what  has  been  before.  A  sacrifice  is 
relative  or  commemorative  when  it  is  related  to 
another  act,  whose  representation  or  commemo- 
ration it  contains.  It  is  nowhere  claimed  that 
the  name  sacrifice  is  used  absolutely  as  applied 
to  the  Eucharist.  It  is  used  relatively,  as  having 
to  do  with  the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross.  The  sac- 
rifice of  the  Cross  provides  man  with  a  sacrifice 
in  Whom,  and  by  Whom,  and  with  Whom  he  can 
approach  God,  and  be  accepted,  and  hold  com- 
munion with  Him.  In  the  sacrifice  of  the  Altar 
we  see  man  in  Christ  approaching  God  in  the 
power  and  memory  of  the  Cross. 

When  our  Lord  took  bread  and  blessed  and 
brake  it,  and  said,  "  This  is  My  Body,"  when  He 
took  the  Cup  and  gave  thanks  and  said,  *'  This  is 
My  Blood,"  and  gave  to  His  Apostles,  He  was 
doing  sacrifice.     He  was  discharging  His  Priest- 

*  Perrone:  Tract,  de  Aug.  Euch.  Sac:  "  De  Sacrificio,"  199. 
4 


5©  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

hood.*  '*  This  is  My  Body,  which  is  being  given 
for  you ;  "  This  is  My  Blood  which  is  being  shed 
for  you  and  for  many  for  the  remission  of  sins," 
was  hterally  and  exactly  what  He  said.  He  was 
offering  Himself  then.  The  Cross,  which  so  soon 
followed,  only  proved  how  real  was  the  offering 
He  had  made  a  few  hours  before.  And  com- 
manding His  Apostles  ("  Do  this  in  remembrance 
of  me  ")  to  minister  what  He  identified  with  Him- 
self when  He  said,  "  This  is  My  Body  " — "  This  is 
My  Blood,"  He  made  them  priests.  He  gath- 
ered them  into  His  own  priesthood,  and  consti- 
tuted them  and  their  successors,  organs,  through 
whom  bringing  forth  bread  and  wine.  He  might 
show  Himself  a  Priest  after  the  order  of  Melchis- 
edec.  So  that  the  life  of  the  Christian  priest- 
hood in  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  is 
the  earthly  manifestation  of  that  same  life  of 
sacrifice  which  Christ,  as  the  Eternal  Priest, 
openly  lives  in  Heaven. 

The  circumstances  under  which  our  Lord  or- 
dained the  Blessed  Eucharist  were  sacrificial 
ones.  The  occasion,  the  Passover,  was  a  sacri- 
fice.f  Sacrifice  was  the  habitat  of  the  Jewish 
mind.  Those  to  whom  He  spoke  were  imbued 
with  sacrificial  ideas  and  full  of  sacrificial  asso- 
ciations.    And  His  speech  was  the  language  of 

*  Medd:   "  One  Mediator,"  Lect.  vi.,  143. 

f  Willis;   "  Worship  of  the  Old  Covenant,"  chap,  xi.,  2. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  5 1 

sacrifice.  "  When  He  said,  *  This  do  as  a  memo- 
rial of  me,'  His  words  undoubtedly  would  convey- 
to  a  Greek  ear  the  idea  of  offering."  *  The 
word  "  do,"  and  the  word  "  remembrance  "  are 
words  which  had  a  technical  and  definite  signifi- 
cation. They  were  words  used  repeatedly  in  the 
Septuagint  version  of  the  Scriptures  of  sacrific- 
ing and  of  sacrifice.f  "  So  that  when  the  Lord 
bade  them  *  Do  this  for  His  Anamnesis  (or 
Memorial) '  He  used  a  word  which  indicated  a 
very  solemn,  sacrificial  memorial,  and  not  a  pri- 
vate act  of  reminding  them.selves  or  one  another." 
No  words  could  re-echo  more  faithfully  the  pur- 
pose of  the  Holy  Eucharist  as  thus  announced 
by  its  Divine  Author  than  the  statement  of  our 
Church  in  the  Catechism  in  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion ''Why  was  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  ordained  ?  "  *'  For  a  continual  remem- 
brane  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  death  of  Christ,  and 
of  the  benefits  which  we  receive  thereby."  That 
"  Continual  Remembrance  "  means  an  objective 
action  and  not  a  mere  subjective  operation  of 
the  mind,  precisely  as  our  Lord  said,  and  as  He 
was  understood  by  those  who  were  eye-witnesses 
and  ministers  of  the  Word.  The  usage,  the  be- 
havior, the  ritual,  the  Liturgies  of   the  Church, 

*  Baring-Gould:  "  Our  Inheritance,"  p.  366,  with  note, 
f  Lev.  ix.   7.     Ex.  x.  25.      Ps.  Ixvi.    15.     Ezek.  xlvi.    13-15. 
Lev.  xxiv.  7.     Num.  x.  10. 


52  THE  LORD'S   SUPPER. 

from  the  day  in  which  He  was  taken  up  thence- 
forward, show  that  He  made  His  Eucharist  a 
sacrifice. 

I  need  not  detain  you  by  a  lengthened  chain  of 
citations  designed  to  show  that  the  Holy  Eucha- 
rist has  borne  from  the  outset  of  its  history  the 
sacrificial  name  and  character.  Long  before 
Christ  came  His  holy  prophets  spake  often  of 
Gospel  days  and  Gospel  worship.  These  predic- 
tions portray  that  future  worship  as  a  sacrificial 
worship.  The  Psalms,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Zech- 
ariah,  and  Malachi  thus  preach  the  Gospel.* 
And  as  soon  as  we  reach  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion we  see  the  fulfilment  of  those  prophecies. 

Not  to  mention,  as  we  might,  what  individual 
fathers  f  and  doctors  wrote  of  the  sacrificial 
nature  of  the  Eucharist,  we  have  only  to  listen 
to  what  the  Church  said  daily  at  her  Altars 
throughout  the  world.  In  the  Alexandrian  sanc- 
tuaries they  prayed  that  ''with  a  pure  heart  and 
pure  conscience  we  may  offer  to  Thee  this  sacri- 
fice of  a  sweet-smelling  savor  for  the  remission 
of  sins  and  the  sins  of  Thy  people."  They  also 
said  :  ''  We  offer  to  Thee  this  reasonable  and  un- 
bloody sacrifice,  which  all  nations  offer  to  Thee, 
O  Lord,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  unto  the  going 
down  of  the  same,  from  the  north  and  the  south ; 

*  Sadler  :    "  Church  Doctrine,"  Bible  Truth,  chap,  iv.,  note  2. 
t  Appendix,  Note  III. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  53 

for  Thy  name  is  great  among  the  Gentiles  and  in 
every  place  incense  is  offered  to  Thy  Name  and 
a  pure  offering."  '^  This  Liturgy  of  S.  Mark 
therefore  agrees  with  what  S.  Justin  Martyr  f 
witnesses,  viz. :  that  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ 
offered  in  the  Holy  Eucharist  was  the  pure  offer- 
ing foretold  by  Malachi.  In  the  Liturgy  of  S. 
James  it  is  said  :  "  This  Thy  sacred  and  spiritual 
table  whereon  Thine  Only-Begotten  Son,  and 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  mystically  set  forth  as  a 
sacrifice  for  me  a  sinner."  "  Cause  us  to  stand 
pure  before  Thy  holy  Altar  that  we  may  offer  to 
Thee  the  sacrifice  of  praise."  We  hear  too  of 
this  "tremendous  and  unbloody  sacrifice,"  and 
"Thy  holy  and  spotless  sacrifice."  \ 

The  Liturgy  of  S.  Clement  prays  :  "  Send  down 
Thy  Holy  Spirit,  the  witness  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  on  this  sacrifice,  that  He  may 
make  this  bread  the  Body  of  Thy  Christ  and  this 
cup  the  Blood  of  Thy  Christ."  The  Liturgy  of 
S.  Chrysostom  directs  the  priest  to  pray  secretly: 
"  Through  Thy  ineffable  and  measureless  love. 
Thou  didst  unchangeably  and  immutably  be- 
come man  and  didst  take  the  title  of  our  High 
Priest,  and  didst  give  to  us  the  hierurgy  of  this 
liturgic  and  unbloody  sacrifice."  § 

"  Strengthen  with  the  might  of  the  Holy  Ghost 

*  Neale  and  Littledale.  f  Dial.  Tryph.,  §  117. 

X  Neale  and  Littledale.  §  Neale  and  Littledale. 


54  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

me  that  have  been  endued  with  the  grace  of  the 
priesthood  that  I  may  stand  by  this  Thy  Holy 
Altar  and  sacrifice  Thy  Holy  and  spotless  Body 
and  precious  Blood."* 

Again,  after  rehearsing  the  words  of  institu- 
tion, the  priest  says:  *' We  offer  unto  Thee  this 
reasonable  and  unbloody  sacrifice." — ''  The  Di- 
vine Liturgy  of  our  Father  among  the  Saints, 
Basil  the  Great"  speaks  of  ''this  reasonable  and 
unbloody  sacrifice."  f 

Now  these  are  some  of  the  oldest  offices  for 
the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  in  the 
world.  They  are  utterances  of  the  Church  which 
have  been  least  affected  and  altered  by  time. 
They  might  be  multiplied  an  hundred-fold,  but 
they  suffice  to  show  how  the  Church  has  regarded 
what  is  done  at  the  Altar. 

Our  Prayer-Book  speaks  the  same  language. 
Our  Liturgy  speaks  for  itself.  Its  witness  is  an 
ancient  one  and  it  accords  with  other  ancient 
witnesses  such  as  we  have  quoted.  Our  Prayer, 
or  Canon,  of  Consecration  says  that  Jesus  Christ 
*'  did  institute,  and  in  His  Holy  Gospel  command 
us  to  continue,  a  perpetual  memory  of  that  His 
precious  death  and  sacrifice  until  His  coming 
again."  After  the  specific  act  of  consecration 
has  been  performed,  when  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  on  the  recital  of  the  words  of  insti- 
*  Neale  and  Littledale.  \  Ibid. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  55 

tution,  the  elements  already  offered  once  as  mere 
bread  and  wine  at  the  Offertory  have  become 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  there  is  a  second 
oblation  of  what  is  now  riot  only  bread  and  wine 
but  Christ's  Most  Blessed  Body  and  Blood.  It 
is  difBcult  to  see  how  anything  could  be  more 
distinctly  sacrificial  than  this  is,  or  how  the  nature 
of  that  memorial,  which  Christ  instituted,  could 
be  more  unmistakably  explained.  "  We  celebrate 
and  make  here  before  Thy  Divine  Majesty,  with 
these  Thy  holy  gifts,  which  we  now  offer  unto 
Thee,  the  memorial  Thy  Son  hath  commanded 
us  to  make."  That  is  to  say:  the  memorial 
which  Christ  instituted  and  commanded  is  the 
offering  of  His  Body  and  Blood  under  the  forms 
of  bread  and  wine. 

No  Liturgy  in  the  whole  history  of  the  Catho- 
lic Church  declares  more  plainly  that  the  Holy 
Eucharist  is  a  sacrifice,  and  what  the  office  of 
that  sacrifice  is,  than  our  own  Liturgy  does  when 
it  says :  "And  we  earnestly  desire  Thy  fatherly 
goodness  mercifully  to  accept  this  our  sacrifice 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving;  most  humbly  be- 
seeching Thee  to  grant,  that  by  the  merits  and 
death  of  Thy  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  and  through 
faith  in  His  Blood,  we  and  all  Thy  whole  Church 
may  obtain  remission  of  our  sins  and  all  other 
benefits  of  His  Passion.  And  here  we  offer  and 
present  unto  Thee,  O  Lord,  ourselves,  our  souls 


56  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

and  bodies,  to  be  a  reasonable,  holy  and  living 
sacrifice  unto  Thee."  At  the  close  we  confess  that 
"  although  we  are  unworthy  to  offer  any  sacrifice, 
yet  we  beseech  Thee  to  accept  this  {i.e.,  this  sacri- 
fice— which  is)  our  bounden  duty  and  service." 

When  we  consider  this  venerable  and  hallowed 
language  of  the  Church,  we  must  remember  that 
it  has  an  ancestry,  and  a  traditional  signification. 
These  terms,  ''memory,"  "remembrance,"  "sac- 
rifice of  praise  and  thanksgiving"  must  not  be 
interpreted  as  naming  things  merely  verbal  or 
mental.  Such  an  ordinary,  modern  sense  applied 
to  these  terms  as  they  are  employed  in  the  Lit- 
urgy does  violence  both  to  good  scholarship  and 
to  Divine  truth.  "  Sacrifice  of  praise  and  thanks- 
giving "  is  a  technical  phrase  and  means  not  only 
that  in  which  the  heart  and  lips  are  concerned. 
It  means  an  external  object  ofTered  to  God, 
which  makes  the  thoughts  of  our  hearts  and  the 
words  of  our  lips  acceptable;  and  that  external 
object  offered  to  God,  which  makes  the  thoughts 
of  our  hearts  and  the  words  of  our  lips  accepta- 
ble, is  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  The  term 
"  sacrifice  of  praise  "  goes  far,  very  far,  back.  It 
is  the  translation  of  the  Hebrew  name  of  the 
peace-offering,*  and  fulfilled  in  Christ  Himself  it 
came  into  the  services  of  the  Christian  Church  to 
name  our  Lord  as  a  sacramental  offering.     In 

*  Lev.  vii.  5. 


-       THE   LORD'S  SUPPER,  57 

this  sense  it  is  constantly  found  in  the  Liturgies 
of  all  parts  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  among 
them  in  our  own. 

We  must  not  fail  to  notice  how  perfectly  our 
liturgical  statement  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice 
gathers  up  and  commemorates  and  represents 
the  different  leading  features  of  our  Lord's  One 
Offering,  and  what  a  witness  the  Holy  Eucharist 
therefore  is  to  the  fulness  and  power  of  the  Lam.b 
of  God.  We  have  seen  how  the  prefigurative 
sacrifices  of  the  law  have  been  conveniently 
summed  up  under  three  heads  of  self-dedication, 
thanksgiving,  and  expiation,  and  how  our  Lord 
as  the  One  Sacrifice  united  and  fulfilled  all  these 
in  Himself. 

Now,  as  He  pleads  the  merits  of  His  death 
and  passion  openly  in  Heaven — and  at  earthly 
Altars  sacramentally,  those  three  great  lines  of 
relation  between  man  and  God  are  indicated  to 
us.  The  Eucharistic  Sacrifice  by  its  very  title, 
"  Eucharist,"  teaches  us  that  it  is  an  instrument 
of  Thanksgiving.  It  is  *'  our  sacrifice  of  praise 
and  thanksgiving."  The  Eucharistic  Sacrifice 
teaches  us  of,  and  is  an  instrument  of,  Self-Dedica- 
tion. In  union  with  Christ's  most  precious  Body 
and  Blood  we  offer  to  God,  confident  of  His  ac- 
ceptance, our  alms,  our  prayers,  the  fulness  of 
the  earth,  ourselves,  our  souls  and  bodies,  our 
self-denials  and  our  fastings. 


58  THE  LORD'S   SUFFER. 

And  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice  teaches  us  of, 
and  is  an  instrument  by  which  we  may  avail  our- 
selves of,  and  apply  to  ourselves  and  all  Christ's 
members,  on  Earth  or  in  Paradise,  the  Expiation 
He  has  purchased  for  us  on  the  Cross.  We  offer 
the  sacrifice  humbly  beseeching  God  to  grant 
that  by  the  merits  and  death  of  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ,  we  and  all  His  whole  Church  "  may  ob- 
tain remission  of  our  sins  and  all  other  benefits 
of  His  Passion." 

What  a  range  is  covered  by  this  moving  ap- 
peal to  God!  What  a  multitude  of  objects  is  it 
framed  to  meet!  When  we  consider  these  mani- 
fold aspects  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice,  we  can 
at  once  see  why,  as  in  the  Prayer-Book,  the 
Church  requires  or  encourages  the  celebration  of 
the  Holy  Communion  on  so  many  different  oc- 
casions. It  is  a  sacrifice  for  Christians  living  in 
the  flesh.  It  is  a  sacrifice  for  Christians  who 
are  delivered  from  the  burden  of  the  flesh.*  Not 
only  ourselves,  but  all  God's  whole  Church,  liv- 
ing and  departed,  may  be  blessed  and  helped, 
their  peace  made  more  abundant,  and  their  con- 
summation and  bliss  in  body  and  soul  hastened  by 
the  mighty  pleading  of  the  One  Pure  Offering. 

While  the  Church  of  England  has  thus  strongly 
asserted  the  old,  immemorial  Catholic  doctrine 
of    the    Eucharistic    Sacrifice,    as    Christ's   own 

*  Appendix,  Note  IV. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  59 

pleading,  under  earthly  forms,  of  Himself  once 
offered  on  the  Cross,  she  has  in  the  31st  Article 
of  Religion  put  on  record  her  repudiation  of 
vulgar  errors  once  current,  but  now  happily 
known  no  longer.  The ''sacrifices  of  masses  "  * 
must  not  be  confounded  with  the  Sacrifice  of  the 
Mass,  or,  as  we  are  more  used  to  hearing  it  called, 
the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice.f  There  was  at  one 
time  an  idea,  due  to  popular  ignorance  and  super- 
stition, that  the  sacrifice  of  the  Altar  was  alto- 
gether distinct  from  the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross, 
that  each  celebration  renewed  and  repeated  the 
sufferings  of  the  Cross,  and  that  Christ  was  in  a 
certain  almost  literal  way  crucified  afresh.  There 
are  now  probably  few  or  no  traces  of  such  a  no- 
tion to  be  found  in  any  quarter  of  Christendom, 
but  the  Article  stands  as  a  witness  to  the  "  su- 
premacy, the  unique  character,  and  all-embracing 
reach  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross." 

Thus  we  see  that  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  the 
earthly,  veiled  presentation  of  the  great  act  of 
Christ  in  Heaven.  It  is,  as  we  must  ever  keep 
in  view,  the  act  of  Christ  Himself.  He  is  the 
true,  the  real,  though  unseen  Priest  at  every  Altar 
of  His  Church.  Therefore  His  members  are  in- 
volved in    His  action.     They  are  a  kingdom  of 

*  Appendix,  Note  V. 

f  See  Father  Hall's  excellent  tract,  "The  Eucharistic  Sacrifice 
and  the  Sacrifices  of  Masses."    Jas.  Pott  &  Co.,  New  York. 


6o  THE   LORD'S   SUFFER. 

priests,  since  they  are  members  of  Him  who  is 
the  enthroned  Priest,  the  High  Priest  of  our  pro- 
fession. What  He  does  in  the  celebration  of 
the  Eucharist,  they,  in  union  with  Him,  do  also 
in  their  inferior  degree,  or  rather  He  does  it  in 
them.  The  members  join  with  their  head,  in 
urging  His  transcendent  merits.  This  makes  the 
sacrifice  to  be  something  in  which  every  baptized 
person  has  an  interest  and  a  share.  This  truth, 
that  the  Holy  Eucharist  is,  in  this  way,  a  sacri- 
fice linked  with  what  Christ  does  in  Heaven 
above,  and  that  in  it  we  enter  into  the  very  exer- 
cise of  our  Lord's  offices,  as  Mediator  and  Advo- 
cate with  the  Father,  and  realize  that  He  is  the 
Propitiation  for  our  sins — this  great  truth  is  a 
large  part  of  the  reason  why  we  should  have  con- 
stant, daily  celebrations,  and  why  any  baptized 
person,  even  if  not  prepared  to  partake  of  the 
sacrifice,  may  yet  be  present,  rightfully,  properly, 
and  profitably  to  unite,  as  a  member  of  the  Eter- 
nal Priest,  in  the  worship  which  in  Him  is  offered 
to  the  Almighty  and  Everlasting  God. 

n.  We  will  now  consider  what  is  offered,  as 
Christ,  thus  exercising  His  Eternal  Priesthood, 
brings  Earth  and  Paradise  and  Heaven  into  One. 
This  great  Sacrifice,  the  divinely  constituted 
worship  of  the  Church  of  God,  comes  to  us  en- 
shrined in  a  Sacrament. 

But  what  is  a  Sacrament?     As  the  Church  de- 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  6i 

fines  it  for  us  in  the  Catechism  it  is  "An  outward 
and  visible  sign  of  an  inward  and  spiritual  grace 
given  unto  us;  ordained  by  Christ  Himself,  as  a 
means  whereby  we  receive  the  same,  and  a  pledge 
to  assure  us  thereof." 

It  is  plainly  asserted  here  that  a  Sacrament  has 
two  parts — an  outward  part  and  an  inward  part — 
i.e.^  in  a  Sacrament  there  is  some  outward  thing 
which  we  see,  and  there  is,  at  the  same  time, 
joined  with  that  outward  part  or  form,  some  in- 
ward part  or  thing,  which  we  cannot  see,  but 
which  is  nevertheless  certainly  and  really  there. 
It  is  the  nature  of  a  Sacrament  to  have  these  two 
parts. 

It  is  important  to  remember  this  definition, 
because  departures  from  it  have  caused  erroneous 
and  mistaken  views  concerning  the  Blessed  Sac- 
rament. 

Thus  defining  a  Sacrament,  the  Church  goes 
on  to  inquire  in  the  Catechism,  "  What  is  the  out- 
ward part  or  sign  in  the  Lord's  Supper?  "  The 
answer  is:  "Bread  and  wine,  which  the  Lord 
hath  commanded  to  be  received."  "What  is  the 
inward  part  or  thing  signified? "  The  answer 
is:  "The  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  which  are 
spiritually  taken  and  received  by  the  faithful  in 
the  Lord's  Supper,"  or  as  the  original  wording 
in  the  English  Prayer-Book  reads :  "  which  are 
verily  and  indeed  taken  and  received  by  the  faith- 


62  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

ful  in  the  Lord's  Supper."  The  terms  employed 
in  this  portion  of  the  Catechism  are  equivalents 
of  the  Latin  words  of  scientific  theology — terms 
which  from  long  use  had  come  to  have  a  very 
precise,  accurate,  and  accepted  meaning. 

The  theology  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  since 
S.  Augustine's  day  had  been  accustomed  to  dis- 
tinguish three  things  concerning  it"^ — The  out- 
ward part,  called  in  Latin  the  sacramentuin,  or 
sign — the  res  sacramentiy  the  reality  of  the  Sac- 
rament, the  inward  part,  the  thing  signified,  the 
thing  under  the  sign — and  the  virtiis,  or  ben- 
fit  of  the  Sacrament.  This  nomenclature  and 
division,  under  English  equivalents,  are,  used  in 
the  Catechism,  which  speaks  of  the  outward  part  ^ 
ox  sacramentuin ;  the  inward  part ^  or  res  sacra- 
inenti ;  the  virtus^  or  benefits,  which  we  receive 
thereby.  Moreover,  the  expression,  "  verily  and 
indeed,"  is  in  Latin  vere  et  ipsa^  truly  and  really. 
What  is  then  asserted  by  the  Church  is,  that 
under  the  outward  part  in  the  Lord's  Supper, 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are  spiritually — 
i.e.y  after  the  law  and  manner  of  spirit — but  never- 

*  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  Church  Catechism  speaks  of  three 
parts  in  the  Lord's  Supper:  (i)  the  sign;  (2)  the  thing  signified; 
and  (3)  the  benefits;  whereas  in  Baptism  there  are  but  two :  (i) 
the  sign  ;  and  (2)  the  inward  grace.  In  this  distinction  our 
Catechism  follows  the  teaching  of  earlier  theologians  from  S. 
Augustine  downward. 


THE   LORD'S   SUPPER.  63 

theless  "  truly  and  really ^'^  taken  and  received. 
This  is  what  is  known  as  the  Real  Presence. 

It  is  this  truth  which  is  the  life  and  magnifi- 
cence, and  power,  and  awfulness,  and  comfort  of 
the  Altar.  It  is  because  Christ  is  there  that  we 
can  pray  to  and  praise  and  worship  God  with 
confidence  and  joy.  It  is  because  Christ  is  there 
that  we  press  forward  eagerly  to  receive  into  our 
dying  bodies  and  sin-famished  souls  Him,  who  is 
the  Bread  of  Life.  The  secret  charm,  the  at- 
traction, which  resides  in  the  Holy  Eucharist  is 
the  Presence  of  Christ.  By  His  Eucharistic 
Presence  He  brings  home  to  us  the  fulfilment  of 
His  own  prediction,  "  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the 
earth  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me,"  *  for  as  we 
discern  Him  lifted  up  in  Eucharistic  Oblation', 
we  realize,  as  in  no  other  way  we  can  so  well, 
His  lifting  up  upon  the  Cross,  and  in  His  Ascen- 
sion. It  is  a  very  striking  fact  that  as  soon  as 
the  Blessed  Sacrament  came  to  be  celebrated  in 
the  Church  of  God,  the  truth  of  Christ's  office  as 
Priest  and  Sacrifice  came  out  strongly  to  her 
view. 

It  would  seem  that  the  Holy  Eucharist  was  the 
method  by  which  the  Holy  Spirit  brought  dis- 
tinctly into  the  consciousness  of  the  Church  a 
realization  of  the  true  nature  of  the  Sacrifice  of 
the  Cross.     And  so  the  Blessed  Sacrament  has 

*  S.  John  xii.  32. 


64  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

ever  been  the  witness,  and  defender,  and  pro- 
claimer  of  the  Atonement.  Feeble  views  of  the 
Atonement  are  a  consequence  of  feeble  views  of 
the  Holy  Eucharist. 

There  are  few  matters  of  doctrine  which,  it 
would  seem,  ought  to  be  freer  from  dispute 
among  the  faithful  than  this  one.  Christ's  words 
were  few  and  simple.  He  spoke  unqualifiedly, 
saying :  ''  This  is  My  Body"—"  This  is  My  Blood." 

Century  after  century  the  Church  taught,  and 
lived,  and  fought  ''  the  good  fight  of  faith," 
"strengthened  with  the  Bread  of  Life,"  taking 
Her  Lord's  words  in  a  literal  sense. 

Consider  within  what  comparatively  recent 
times,  and  in  what — relatively  speaking — an  in- 
significant fraction  of  the  Church,  that  literal 
sense  has  been  denied  or  questioned.  For*  well- 
nigh  a  thousand  years  the  Church  throughout  the 
world  had  one  belief  as  to  the  Holy  Eucharist. 
She  discerned  the  Lord's  Body  and  Blood  under 
the  forms  of  bread  and  wine,  and  serenely  wor- 
shipped Christ  upon  His  Altar-Throne.  And  after 
the  subject  became  a  controverted  one,  it  was 
several  hundred  years  longer  before  it  was  asked 
out-and-out  as  to  the  Eucharist,  "  Is  the  Lord 
among  us  or  not?"  And  when  the  Real  Pres- 
ence was  actually  denied,  from  what  quarter  did 
that  denial  proceed?     From  individuals,  or  from 

■^  Appendix,  Note  VI. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  65 

irresponsible  groups  of  people  on  the  Continent 
of  Europe,  who  had  withdrawn  from  the  Church 
and  placed  themselves  in  hostile  and  schismatical 
array  against  her.  So  that  if  one  deny  the  Real 
Presence  of  Christ  in  the  Holy  Communion  he 
ought  clearly  to  understand  the  company  he  is 
therein  keeping. 

That  the  consecrated  elements  in  the  Euchar- 
ist are  only  bread  and  wine,  or  that  they  are  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  to  the  faith  of  the  re- 
ceiver only,  or  that  they  are  only  in  virtue  and 
efficacy  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  are  ideas 
and  theories  alien  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Catholic 
Church  in  general  and  alien  to  that  particular 
part  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  which  we  belong. 
Though  held  by  individuals,  the  Church  does  not 
hold  them.  Neither  her  history  nor  formularies 
give  them  countenance.*  The  Anglican  Commun- 
ion has  steadfastly  maintained,  in  harmony  with 
Catholic  consent,  that  in  the  act  of  consecration, 
performed  by  a  priest  of  apostolic  succession, 
the  bread  and  wine,  while  not  ceasing  to  be  bread 
and  wine,  become,  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  This  is 
what  the  Church  has  always  held  from  the  begin- 
ning. She  has  not  attempted  to  explain  "how" 
it  is.  Our  Lord  when  asked  "how,"  only  re- 
peated what  He  had  said  before.     In  harmony 

*  Appendix,  Note  VII. 


66  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

with  Holy  Scripture  the  Church  has  called  the 
consecrated  elements  bread  and  wine.  She  has 
also  called  them  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ. 
By  consecration  they  are  two  things  at  once: 
according  to  the  natural  order  bread  and  wine; 
according  to  the  supernatural  order  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ.  Therefore  both  Holy  Scrip- 
ture and  the  Church  call  them  alternately  by 
either  name.  When  the  priest  delivers  the  blessed 
Sacrament  he  says,  ^'  The  Body  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  " — "  The  Blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
In  the  Post  Communion  we  give  thanks  that  we 
have  been  fed  **  with  the  spiritual  food  of  the 
most  precious  Body  and  Blood  of  our  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ." 

There  are  two  features  connected  with  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  which  of  themselves,  apart  from 
other  considerations,  seem  quite  sufficient  to  as- 
sert the  Real  Presence.*  One  is  consecration. 
The  consecration  of  the  bread  and  wine  we  find, 
from  the  first,  the  characteristic  of  the  blessed 
Sacrament.  It  has  been  regarded  as  an  act  of 
the  profoundest  importance.  It  has  been  most 
rigidly  guarded.  It  has  been  performed  accord- 
ing to  a  strict  rule  and  formula,  so  that  we  speak 
of  the  canon,  that  is,  the  rule,  of  consecration. 
And  none  but  a  priest  may  do  this  act. 

The  other  significant  feature  is  the  universal 

*  Appendix,  Note  VIII. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  67 

attribution  of  the  mysterious  change  at  consecra- 
tion to  the  Holy  Ghost.  Usually  this  is  posi- 
tively expressed,  as  in  ancient  Liturgies  and  in  our 
own,  in  what  is  known  as  the  Invocation — a 
prayer  that  the  Holy  Ghost  would  make  the  bread 
and  wine  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  The 
exact  position  of  the  Invocation  has  varied — 
sometimes  before  and  sometimes  (as  in  our  Lit- 
urgy) after  the  words  of  institution,  and  some- 
times (as  in  the  English  Liturgy)  not  expressed 
at  all,  but  the  belief  of  the  Church  has  always  been 
the  same,  that  the  consecration  is  effected  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  This  fact  borne  in  mind  is  a  cor- 
rective of  that  modern  subjective  idea  that  faith 
makes  Christ  present.  Faith  does  not  make  Christ 
present.     The  Holy  Ghost  makes  Christ  present. 

The  Eucharistic  concord  of  the  Church  was 
disturbed,  when  attempt  was  made  to  answer 
that  question,  *'  How,"  which  our  Lord  at  the 
outset  declined  to  answer. 

Transubstantiation  sprang  from  a  laudable  in- 
tention to  guard  the  truth  of  Christ's  real  Sacra- 
mental presence,  but  however  well  men  meant  in 
the  beginning  the  results  have  been  disastrous. 
Transubstantiation  and  the  Real  Presence  are  by 
no  means  synonymous.  They  are  not  at  all  one 
and  the  same  thing.  The  Real  Presence  is  the 
great  Eucharistic  fact  of  the  Church's  history. 
Transubstantiation  is  an  account  of  one  way  in 


68  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

which  a  part  of  the  Church  has  dealt  with  that 
fact. 

Transubstantiation  *  is  a  definition  of  the  mode 
of  the  Real  Presence.  It  is  admitted  in  Roman 
theology  to  be  a  doctrine  distinct  from  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Real  Presence.f  Reviewing  the  his- 
tory of  this  term  we  can  scarcely  regard  it  other- 
wise than  as  an  unhappy  one.  Employed  in  two 
senses,  a  popular  and  a  scholastic  one,:|:  in  the 
former  of  these  senses  it  has  been  condemned  by 
the  Anglican  Church  in  Article  XXVIII.,  where- 
in it  is  said,  "  Transubstantiation  (or  the  change 
of  the  substance  of  the  bread  and  wine  in  the 
supper  of  the  Lord)  cannot  be  proved  by  Holy 
Writ;  but  is  repugnant  to  the  plain  words  of 
Scripture,  overthroweth  the  nature  of  a  Sacra- 
ment, and  hath  given  occasion  to  many  supersti- 
tions." 

In  the  popular  acceptation  of  the  word  as  here 
used,  "substance"  means  that  general  aggregate 
of  qualities  presented  to  our  senses,  and  which 

*  Appendix,  Note  IX. 

f  Perrone:  Tract,  de  August.  Euch.  Sacr. ,  cap.  ii.  "  De  Modo 
quo  Christus  fit  Prgesens  in  Eucharistia  seu  Transubstantiatione." 
"  Articulum  de  Transubstantiatione  dogma  esse  distinctum  a, 
dogmate  de  reali  Christi  prsesentia." 

$  For  a  brief  but  most  satisfactory  statement  on  this  subject, 
see  Dr.  J.  M.  Neale's  Appendix  II.,  "On  Transubstantiation," 
to  his  translation  of  "  The  Sacrament  of  the  Altar."  Note  X.  in 
appendix  to  this  lecture. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  69 

we  understand  when  we  speak,  for  example,  of  a 
"hard  substance."  It  is  what  we  see,  handle, 
taste,  smell,  measure,  and  weigh.  A  change  of 
**  substance,"  in  this  sense,  overthrew  indeed  the 
nature  of  a  Sacrament.  It  destroyed  the  out- 
ward and  visible  part.  It  contradicted  the  senses, 
because  what  men  certainly  saw,  they  were  as- 
sured they  did  not  really  see.  They  thought 
they  saw  bread  and  wine,  but  they  were  told  that 
no  bread  and  wine  were  there.  This  vulgar  con- 
ception gave  occasion  to  many  superstitions. 
The  Sacrament  became  a  physical  thing.  The 
thing  signified  was  commensurate,  so  people 
were  led  to  suppose,  with  the  sign.  The  glori- 
fied, spiritualized  humanity  of  Christ  they  took 
to  be  comprised  within  the  quantitative  limits  of 
the  material  elements.  For  so  much  bread  and 
so  much  wine  were  thought  to  be  substituted  so 
much  body  and  so  much  blood.  Some  years 
after  this  popular  superstition  was  denounced  in 
the  28th  Article  under  the  name  of  Transubstan- 
tiation,  the  Roman  Church  also  rebuked  the  same 
popular  superstition  in  the  Eucharistic  utterances 
of  the  Council  of  Trent.  She  then  reformed  her 
Eucharistic  teachings,  but  did  it  in  philosophical 
language,  and  still  kept  for  her  statement  of  the 
mode  of  the  real  presence  the  old  name,  so  asso- 
ciated with  error,  of  Transubstantiation.  It  is  but 
fair  to  say  that  Transubstantiation  in  \.\i^  popular 


70  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

sense,  in  which  it  came  to  be  understood  in  medi- 
aeval days  is  not  used  in  the  present  formal  Eu- 
charistic  statements  of  the  Roman  Church.  In 
these  statements  the  word  "  substance  "  is  used 
in  the  metaphysical  or  scholastic  sense.  In  that 
sense  "  substance  "  is  not  the  sum  of  all  qualities 
perceptible  by  us,  but  it  means  something  unseen 
and  unknown  by  us,  something  wholly  immate- 
rial it  may  be.  *'  Substance  "  is  that  which  stands 
under  what  our  senses  note,  it  is  that  which  makes 
the  thing  to  be  what  it  is,  that  which  gives  it  its 
identity,  and  is  considered  as  altogether  distinct 
and  apart  from  the  qualities  which  we  perceive. 
With  "  substance  "  so  understood,  "  Transubstan- 
tiation,"  or  the  conversion  of  substance,  is,  of 
course,  a  very  different  idea  from  that  "change 
of  substance "  mentioned  in  the  28th  Article. 
But,  in  its  best  estate  and  in  its  most  elevated 
construction,  Transubstantiation  is  but  a  theory 
of  the  manner  of  the  Real  Presence  clothed  in  the 
terms  and  ideas  of  the  ancient  philosophy  of 
Aristotle  and  of  the  Realism  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  But  the  Catholic  Church  has  never  au- 
thoritatively explained  the  mode  of  Christ's 
Presence,  much  less  tied  herself  to  philosophical 
formulas  on  the  Holy  Eucharist.  Transubstan- 
tiation in  the  metaphysical  sense  may  be  a  pious, 
private  opinion.  It  can  be  nothing  more.  It  is 
a  term  ambiguous,  in  thus  having  two  meanings 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  71 

attached  to  it.  It  is  a  term  discredited  in  having 
been,  in  one  of  these  meanings,  condemned,  and 
it  is  a  term  unauthorized  \n  never  having  received, 
even  in  its  philosophical  signification,  Catholic 
consent.*  We  must  look  upon  it  as  an  unfortun- 
ate term,  which  forcibly  emphasizes  the  sad  con- 
sequences of  attempting  to  define  what  Catholic 
antiquity  was  content  to  believe  without  specu- 
lation. Could  it  have  been  confined  to  its  strict 
scholastic  meaning,  perhaps  no  harm  might  have 
ensued.  But  the  degeneration  of  the  learned 
meaning  into  the  popular  one  bred  superstition, 
division,  and  misunderstanding. 

But  Transubstantiation  is  not  the  only  Euchar- 
istic  error  which  the  Church  would  have  us  shun. 
Far  worse  than  trying  to  tell  how  Christ  is  pres- 
ent in  His  Sacrament  is  the  denying  it  altogether. 

It  was  a  modern  invention  of  Zwingle,  the  ex- 
planation novel  and  unknown  to  antiquity,  that 
"  This  is  My  Body  "  means  "  This  represents  My 
Body."  This,  just  as  truly  as  Transubstantiation, 
overthrows  the  nature  of  a  Sacrament,  and  with 
a  far  more  shocking  overthrow,  because  it  denies 
the  Inward  Part.  And  who  can  doubt  that  the 
irreverence,  sacrilege,  desecration,  disparagement 
and  neglect  of  the  Holy  Mysteries  which  have  re- 
sulted from  this  mischievous  imagination  are  in- 
finitely more  displeasing  to  God  and  have  wrought 
*  Appendix,  Note  XI. 


72  THE  LORD'S   SUPPER. 

deeper  and  more  widespread  hurt  to  His  Church 
and  to  His  Truth  than  all  the  pious  superstitions 
to  which  Transubstantiation  has  ever  given  birth. 
The  Church  evidently  considers  the  denial  of  the 
Real  Presence  a  graver  error  than  Transubstantia- 
tion, for  in  the  28th  Article  she  speaks  first  of 
such  denial  and  spends  a  good  many  more  words 
on  that  than  she  does  on  Transubstantiation.  She 
says,  *'  The  supper  of  the  Lord  is  not  only  a  sign 
of  the  love  that  Christians  ought  to  have  among 
themselves  one  to  another,"  that  is  to  say,  it  is 
not  merely  a  symbol,  a  figurative  ceremony  con- 
veying no  inward  grace,  "  but  rather  it  is  a  Sacra- 
ment of  our  redemption  by  Christ's  death."  In 
other  words,  it  has  an  inward  part  as  well  as  an 
outward  part.  She  then  goes  on  to  say  what  this 
inward  part  is — "  insomuch  that  to  such  as  rightly, 
worthily,  and  with  faith,  receive  the  same,  the 
bread,  which  v/e  break,  is  a  partaking  of  the  Body 
of  Christ,  and  likewise  the  cup  of  blessing  is  a 
partaking  of  the  Blood  of  Christ."  So  far  the 
Article  proceeds  in  rebuke  of  those  who  would 
evacuate  the  Sacrament  of  its  mystery,  by  deny- 
ing the  inward  part,  and  who  would  see  in  it  only 
a  bare  and  empty  sign,  with  no  substantial  real- 
ity beneath  the  outward  sign.  The  framer  of 
this  Article,  Bishop  Geste,  of  Rochester,  was  one 
whose  doctrinal  position  was  most  distasteful  to 
the  Puritans  of  his  day,  who  called  him  a  Semi- 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER,  73 

papist.  He  has  fortunately  left  us  his  own  ac- 
count of  what  the  Article  was  intended  to  teach, 
when  he  writes  as  follows  *  concerning  the  clause  : 
"  The  Body  of  Christ  is  given,  taken,  and  eaten 
in  the  Supper,  only  after  an  heavenly  and  spirit- 
ual manner."  He  says  :  "  I  suppose  you  have 
heard  how  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester  found  him- 
self grieved  with  the  placing  of  this  adverbe  only 
in  this  Article — '  The  Body  of  Christ  is  given, 
taken,  and  eaten  in  the  Supper  after  a  heavenly 
and  spiritual  manner  only ' — because  it  did  take 
away  the  presence  of  Christ's  Body  in  y*'  Sacra- 
ment. Whereas  between  him  and  me  I  told  him 
plainly,  that  this  word  only  in  the  foresaid  Article 
did  not  exclude  y«  Presence  of  Christ's  Body 
from  the  Sacrament,  but  only  y^  grossness  and  sen- 
sibleness  in  y-  receavinge  thereof.  For  I  said  unto 
him,  though  he  tooke  Christ's  Body  in  his  hand, 
receaved  it  with  his  mouthe,  and  that  corporally, 
naturally,  reallye,  substantially  and  carnally,  as 
y^  doctors  doo  write,  yet  he  did  not  for  all  that, 
see  it,  feale  it,  smell  it,  nor  taste  it — We  may  say 
y'^  in  y^  Sacrament  His  very  Body  is  present,  yea 
really,  that  is  to  say,  in  deede,  substantially,  that 
is,  in  substance  and  corporally,  carnally,  and  nat- 
urally— by  which  words  is  ment  that  His  Very 
Bodye,  His  Verye  Fleshe,  and  His  verye  Hu- 
maine  Nature,  is  there,  not  after  corporall,  car- 
*  Pusey  on  "  The  Real  Presence,"  p.  203,  note 


74  THE  LORD'S  SUFFER. 

nail,  or  naturall  wise,  but  invisibly,  unspeakably, 
supernaturally,  spiritually,  divinely,  and  by  waye 
unto  Him  only  known."  This  is  a  convincing 
statement,  by  the  very  writer  of  the  28th  Article 
himself,  of  what  is  intended  to  be  implied  by  the 
term  '*  spiritual,"  viz.:  not  to  deny  the  reality 
of  Christ's  Presence,  but  to  lift  it  above  the  range 
of  any  natural  law  known  to  us.  That  is  to  say, 
there  is  nothing  in  the  inward  part  of  this  Sacra- 
ment which  comes  under  the  apprehension  or 
cognizance  of  the  senses.  No  perception,  belong- 
ing to  our  bodily  nature,  will  reveal  anything  to 
us  at  the  Altar.  There  is  nothing  in  sight,  or 
sound,  or  taste,  or  smell,  or  touch,  to  indicate  to 
us  that  anything  is  there  save  bread  and  wine. 
We  believe.  Our  only  evidence  is  faith,  that  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen.  Faith  in  the  word  of 
Christ.  Faith  in  the  reality  and  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  In  that  faith  we  approach,  to  adore, 
and  to  receive,  under  the  outward  forms  of  bread 
and  wine,  after  a  heavenly  and  spiritual  manner, 
not  to  be  understood  or  perceived  by  any  earthly 
faculties,  the  spiritualized  and  glorified  substance 
of  Christ,  Who  is  our  life. 

Faith   is,  as   the  Article   says,  the   means  {i.e., 
the  medium)  whereby  the  Body  of  Christ  is  re- 
ceived and  eaten.     Faith,  as  the  Bishop  of  Derry  * 
said  not  long  ago,  does  not  create  the  Presence. 
*  Sermon  at  S.  Mary's,  Cardiff,  1889. 


THE  LORD'S   SUPPER.  75 

It  perceives  it.  Accordingly  Christ's  Presence  is 
by  no  means  dependent  on  the  faith  of  the  re- 
ceiver. What  we  think  about  it,  or  believe  or 
disbelieve  about  it,  cannot  make  it  in  itself  more 
or  less  than  it  is.'''  Our  faith  does  not  make  Christ 
present,  nor  does  our  want  of  faith  make  Him 
absent.  The  Prayer  of  Humble  Access  declares 
this  when  we  pray  ^^  so  to  eat  the  flesh  of  Thy 
dear  Son  Jesus  Christ  and  to  drink  His  blood 
that  our  sinful  Bodies  may  be  made  clean  by  His 
Body  and  our  souls  washed  through  His  most 
precious  Blood,"  implying  that  it  is  possible  for 
us  so  to  eat  and  drink  His  Body  and  most  pre- 
cious Blood  that  these  cleansing  effects  may  not 
be  wrought  in  us.  We  ca7t — and  here  lies  the 
burden  of  our  responsibility — we  can  add  to  or 
diminish  the  good  it  may  do  us  individually,  by 
the  faith,  and  penitence,  and  humility  which  we 
manifest  in  our  use  of  it.  It  is  a  mystery.  It  is 
to  be  feared  that  those  to  whom  the  Real  Pres- 
ence, in  spite  of  Holy  Scripture,  the  Prayer  Book, 
and  the  testimony  of  ages  is  still  a  hard  saying, 
are  somehow  not  conscious  of  the  demands  which 
the  Incarnation  makes  on  faith.  It  seems  strange 
that  faith,  which  professes  to  accept  wholly  and 
implicitly  the  Incarnation,  the  Resurrection,  and 
the  Ascension,  should  find  any  difficulty  in  accept- 
ing the  Real  Presence.  Have  such  persons  really 
*  Appendix,  Note  XII, 


76  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

considered  the  stupendous  marvels  involved  in 
God's  being  made  man,  and  in  the  rising  from 
the  dead  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth?  Have  they  seri- 
ously reflected  that  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem  on 
Mary's  breast  was  all  the  time  Almighty  God, 
Who  made  all  things  and  at  that  instant  was  up- 
holding all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power? 
Are  they  convinced  that  Jesus,  Who  was  cruci- 
fied, dead,  and  buried,  raised  Himself  from  death, 
and  came  and  went  through  walls  of  rock  and 
stone  and  fast-closed  doors,  and  yet  ate  and 
drank,  was  seen  and  handled,  and  with  flesh, 
bones  and  all  things  appertaining  to  the  perfec- 
tion of  man's  nature,  ascended  into  Heaven?  Do 
they  believe  these  mysteries,  and  yet  hesitate  to 
believe  a  mystery,  no  harder  to  believe  than 
the  three  which  I  have  mentioned?  Have  they 
noticed  the  Sacramental  principle  on  which,  in 
God's  sublimest  works  of  nature  and  of  grace 
alike,  are  formed  vast  constellations  of  correlated 
truths,  of  which  the  Real  Presence  is  only  one? 
A  human  being — a  lizmig  human  being — is  just 
exactly  like  a  Sacrament.  That  is  to  say,  a  hu- 
man being  has  an  outward  part  and  an  inward 
part.  You  have  a  body  and  a  soul.  These  are 
two  distinct  substances,  yet  they  coexist  in  a 
mysterious  and  inexplicable  unity.  You  know 
that  they  are  not  confused  or  blended  in  such  a 
way  as  to  form  any  third  substance.     They  are 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  77 

two  substances,  coexisting  in  unity.  You  know 
that  they  are  distinct  substances,  because  you 
have  seen  the  outward  part  deprived  of  its  in- 
ward part — the  body  without  the  soul.  We  speak 
of  a  human  being  by  either  part  of  his  nature, 
as  it  pleases  us.  We  speak  of  him  as  a  body. 
We  say,  somebody^  anybody.  But  when  we  use 
that  mode  of  expression,  we  do  not  of  course 
mean  to  assert  that  that  body  has  nothing  to  it 
but  body;  we  do  not  mean  to  deny  the  existence 
of  the  soul.  On  the  other  hand,  we  may  speak 
of  human  beings  as  "souls."  There  are  so  many 
"souls"  here  in  Church  now.  But  in  so  speak- 
ing we  are  not  asserting  that  people  are  all  souls 
or  that  they  have  no  bodies. 

Even  so  it  is  with  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 
Holy  Scripture  and  the  Church  call  the  sacred 
species,  bread  and  wine.  They  also  call  them  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  They  are  mentioned 
indifferently  by  the  outward  part,  or  by  the  in- 
ward part,  just  as  human  beings  are  mentioned 
indifferently,  according  to  either  the  outward 
part  or  the  inward  part;  although,  of  course,  it 
is  more  natural  that,  in  both  cases,  we  should 
more  frequently  perhaps  use  the  higher  and 
nobler  part  by  which  to  designate  the  whole. 
When  God  made  man.  He  formed  his  body,  we 
are  told,  out  of  the  dust  of  the  ground.  That 
was   the   outward    part,  perfect   and    complete. 


78  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

Then,  God  breathed  into  his  nostrils.  He  breathed 
upon  that  outward  part  and  man  became  a  living 
soul.  He  did  not  cease  to  be  what  he  was  before, 
but  he  became  something  that  he  was  not  before. 
He  became  something  more  than  he  had  been 
before.  When  it  says  that  he  became  a  living 
soul,  it  does  not  mean  that  the  body  formed  out 
of  the  dust  of  the  ground  was  transtibstantiated 
into  sotil,  so  that  there  was  no  bodily  substance 
left.  It  does  not  mean  that  the  substance  of  the 
body  was  so  changed  that  the  body  was  there  no 
longer.  That  would  have  overthrown  man's  na- 
ture as  a  human  being.  So,  when  the  Church 
tells  us  that  in  consecration,  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  bread  and  wine  become  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ,  she  does  not  mean  to  assert  that 
there  are  no  bread  and  wine  there  any  more. 
That  would  overthrow  the  nature  of  the  Eucha- 
rist as  a  Sacrament.  But  when  it  is  said  that  man 
became  a  living  soul,  it  is  asserted  that  a  sub- 
stance— a  spiritual  substance — soul — was  united 
to  the  material  substance.  A  change  then  took 
place,  to  be  sure.  That  form  was  changed  into 
a  living  soul;  not,  however,  by  change  of  one 
substance  into  another,  but  by  union  of  both  sub- 
stances— soul  and  body.  And  so  the  Church,  in 
the  Blessed  Sacrament,  when  she  says  that  bread 
and  wine  become  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ, 
asserts  a  change,  not  of  one  substance  into  an- 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER,  79 

other,  but  of  the  union  of  two — a  material  and 
a  spiritual  substance.  This  light  is  thrown  upon 
us  from  nature,  from  the  Sacramental  constitu- 
tion of  our  being.  A  still  stronger  and  more  sol- 
emn light  is  shed  upon  us  from  the  mysteries  of 
grace. 

Take  the  Incarnation.  What  do  we  understand 
by  the  Incarnation?  Suppose  you  were  asked  to 
state  what  the  great  truth  of  the  Incarnation  is. 
You  would,  of  course,  reply,  that  it  is  the  union 
of  the  two  natures,  human  and  divine,  in  the  one 
person  of  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  examine  that 
statement  in  the  explicit  form  given  to  us  in  the 
Athanasian  Creed  in  the  English  Prayer-Book. 
There,  we  are  told,  that  it  is  necessary  to  ever- 
lasting salvation  that  one  believe  rightly  the 
Incarnation  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  ''  the 
right  faith  is,  that  we  believe  and  confess:  that 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  is  God 
and  man;  God,  of  the  substance  of  the  Father, 
begotten  before  the  worlds:  and  man,  of  the  sub- 
stance of  His  mother,  born  in  the  world;  perfect 
God,  and  perfect  man :  of  a  reasonable  soul  and 
human  flesh  subsisting;  equal  to  the  Father  as 
touching  His  Godhead:  inferior  to  the  Father  as 
touching  His  manhood.  Who  although  He  be 
God  and  man  :  yet  is  He  not  two,  but  one  Christ ; 
one ;  not  by  conversion  of  the  Godhead  into  flesh : 
but  by  taking  of  the  manhood  into  God;  one  al- 


8o  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

together;  not  by  confusion  of  substance:  but  by 
unity  of  person.  For  as  the  reasonable  soul  and 
flesh  is  one  man:  so  God  and  man  is  one  Christ." 

Here  again,  in  this  great  mystery  of  the  Incar- 
nation, we  are  taught,  and  we  hold  two  distinct 
substances,  coexisting  in  union,  neither  lost  in 
the  other,  nor  both  confused  together.  In  very 
ancient  times,  you  will  remember  that  this  doc- 
trine of  the  Incarnation  was  attacked  and  assailed, 
and  these  attacks  and  assaults  called  out  these 
careful  statements  of  the  creed  of  S.  Athanasius. 
Men  thought  they  found  a  difficulty  in  believing 
that  the  two  substances.  Godhead  and  manhood, 
could  coexist  in  one  person.  They  contended 
that  the  humanity  of  Christ  was  not  a  reality, 
much  as  the  Roman  popular  theory  of  Transub- 
stantiation  denied  the  outward  part  of  the  Sacra- 
ment. Or,  they  said  that  Christ  was  merely  man, 
much  as  the  ordinary  sectarian  now  denies  the 
reality  of  the  Inward  Part  of  the  Sacrament.  Or 
yet  again,  they  said  that  the  two  natures  were  so 
mixed  up  that  a  third  something  was  the  result, 
something  which  was  not  exactly  human,  nor 
yet  divine. 

In  opposition  to  these  ideas  the  Church  de- 
fended the  truth  of  the  Incarnation  by  maintain- 
ing, as  she  does  in  the  Athanasian  Creed,  that  in 
Christ  the  two  substances,  divine  and  human,  did 
exist   in   their  reality  and  integrity ;  that  Christ 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  8 1 

was  at  once  perfect  God  and  perfect  man,  that 
both  manhood  and  Godhead  were  as  really- 
present  in  Him,  as  soul  and  body  are  present 
in  a  human  being.  And  in  those  days,  gentle- 
men, when  neither  Romanism  nor  Zwinglianism 
had  as  yet  arisen  to  disturb  men's  belief  in 
the  Real  Presence  of  Christ  in  the  Holy  Euc- 
harist, in  those  days  the  Fathers  and  doctors 
of  the  Church — the  defenders  and  champions 
of  the  faith  * — used  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist as  an  analogy  to  illustrate  the  truth  of 
the  Incarnation.  They  said  that,  as  there  are 
two  substances  co-existing  in  the  Lord's  Supper 
— the  bread  and  wine,  and  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ — as  these  two  are  ineffably  united,  not 
by  any  absorption  of  one  into  another,  not  by 
any  confusion  of  both,  so,  in  the  person  of  Christ, 
co-exist  His  divinity  and  His  humanity.  In  our 
day  the  case  is  reversed.  The  doctrine  of  the 
Incarnation  as  stated  in  the  Creed  is  now  gener- 
ally accepted;  but  we  have  fallen  into  disputes, 
in  these  latter  days,  as  to  the  truth  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  of  Christ's  Body  and  Blood.  Now,  in 
the  providence  of  God,  we  may  revert  to  the 
truth  of  the  Incarnation  to  illustrate  the  belief  of 
the  Church  concerning  the  Holy  Eucharist,  and 
we  may  see  by  the  fact  of  the  Incarnation,  no  less 
than  by  the  fact  of  our  organization  as  soul  and 
*  Appendix,  Note  XIII. 


82  THE  LORD'S  SUFFER. 

body,  that,  in  the  dispensations  of  God,  a  thing 
may  be  two  things  at  the  same  time;  that  a 
higher  substance  may  be  so  conveyed  under  the 
veil  of  a  lower  one  that  both  shall  be  distinct 
and  real,  and  yet  so  joined  that  no  human  eye 
or  mind  can  penetrate  the  mystery  of  their  union. 
From  Holy  Scripture  recall  this  statement  of  the 
Incarnation,  viz. :  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh." 
That  does  not  mean  that  the  substance  of  the 
Word  was  changed  into  flesh.  It  does  not  mean 
that  the  divine  nature  was  so  changed  into  human 
nature  that  there  was  no  divine  nature  left.  No. 
It  means,  as  you  all  understand,  that  the  divine 
nature  was  united  to  human  nature,  that  it  made 
manhood  a  tabernacle  beneath  which  it  dwells. 
In  a  similar  way  the  Church  has  always  believed 
as  to  the  Real  Presence.  She  has  believed  that 
the  bread  and  wine  are  made  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ,  much  as  the  Word  was  made  flesh, 
viz. :  by  the  union  of  the  sign  with  the  thing 
signified,  by  the  union  of  the  bread  and  wine 
with  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  And  so  the 
language  of  Holy  Scripture,  of  our  Blessed  Lord, 
and  of  the  Church's  offices,  falls  into  place,  with- 
out being  strained,  and  not  having  to  be  explained 
away.  When  our  Blessed  Lord  was  on  the  earth 
He  was  the  Son  of  Man.  He  was  also,  at  the 
same  time,  the  Son  of  God.  He  was  both  at 
once.     Even  so  when  our  Lord  said,  "  This  is  My 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  83 

Body,"  ''  This  is  My  Blood,"  the  faith  of  the 
Church  has  always  understood  Him  literally,  and 
has  simply  believed  that  He  meant  what  He  said, 
and  that  He  was  not  using  a  figurative  expression. 
It  is  bread  and  wine.  It  is  His  Body  and  Blood. 
It  is  both  at  once.  The  Church,  in  her  offices, 
calls  the  consecrated  elements  bread  and  wine, 
but  with  more  emphasis  and  frequency  she  also 
calls  them  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  They 
are  both  at  once.* 

"  The  primitive  doctrine  of  the  Catholic  Church 
and  of  the  ancient  Liturgies  is  the  only  doc- 
trine which  satisfies  both  reason  and  faith.  Christ 
is  in  His  own  Sacrament,  according  to  His  prom- 
ise, by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  provided 
there  be  bread  and  wine,  the  words  of  institution, 
and  a  priest  duly  commissioned  by  Him.  Here 
Christ  offers  Himself  therein  to  all  believers,  and 
by  contact  with  Himself  makes  them  partakers 
of  His  glorified  humanity  and  of  His  divine  na- 
ture also.  The  way  of  His  Presence  is  supernat- 
ural, above  and  beyond,  but  not  contrary  to  na- 
ture. It  is  not  a  Presence  after  the  manner  of 
any  body  of  which  our  senses  can  take  cognizance, 
but  after  the  manner  of  a  *  spiritual  body' — a 
body  which  has  no  'when'  and  no  'where,'  but 
which  lives  and  moves  and  has  its  being  after  the 
manner  of  a  spirit.  God  is  a  spirit,"  and  the 
*  Appendix,  Note  XIV. 


84  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

Son  of  Man  has  glorified  our  human  nature  "  with 
the  same  glory  which,  as  God,  He  had  alongside 
of  God  before  the  world  was."  * 

The  truth  of  the  Real  Presence  of  Christ  in  the 
Eucharist  makes  the  history  of  Revelation  con- 
tinuous and  consistent.  That  history  is  more 
than  the  history  of  man's  consciousness  of  the  Di- 
vine omnipresence.  It  is  the  history  of  a  Special 
Presence  in  which  God  expressed  His  love  to 
and  favor  for  the  people  of  His  choice  and  cove- 
nant.f  In  Eden  and  after  it,  through  patriarchal 
times,  under  the  law,  in  tabernacle  and  temple, 
in  theophanies  and  Shekinah,  and  finally  in  the 
Incarnation  actually  accomplished,  we  find  this 
Special  Presence  as  the  distinctive  nature  of  God's 
intercourse  with  His  chosen  people.  In  the  Eu- 
charistic  Presence  of  Christ  this  tradition  of  Di- 
vine love  is  maintained;  And  so  in  the  Eucharist 
abides  this  special  Divine  Presence,  which  is  the 
glory  of  the  Christian  Church.  Christ  is  in  His 
Sacrament,  Body,  Soul  and  Divinity,  for  He  is 
one  and  indivisible.  And  being  wholly  present 
the  Church  does  and  must  worship  Him,  as  she 
always  has.  Human  acts  of  worship  to  His  in- 
effable presence  terminate  in  a  Divine  person.  We 
worship  not  bread  and  wine,  nor  what  we  see. 

*  Church  Times,  Dec.  i8th,  1891. 

\  Vide  "Treatise  on  the  Use  and  Import  of  the  Eucharistic 
Symbols,"  by  Alexander  Knox,  Esq. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  85 

We  worship  Christ.  The  Eucharistic  belief  of 
the  Anglican  Church  is  well  set  forth  by  an 
author  whose  work  has  the  highest  sanction, 
being  officially  recommended  as  a  part  of  the 
course  of  theological  study*  by  the  Bishops  of 
the  American  Church.  He  says :  t  "  This  Catholic 
and  Apostolic  Church  has  always  avoided  any 
attempt  to  determine  too  minutely  the  mode  of 
the  true  presence  in  the  Holy  Eucharist.  Guided 
by  Scripture  she  establishes  only  those  truths 
which  Scripture  reveals,  and  leaves  the  subject  in 
that  mystery  in  which  God  for  His  wise  pur- 
poses has  invested  it.  Taking  as  her  immovable 
foundation  the  words  of  Jesus  Christ,  '  This  is 
My  Body,'  '  This  is  My  Blood  of  the  New  Cove- 
nant,' and  *  Whoso  eateth  My  Flesh  and  drinketh 
My  Blood  hath  eternal  life,"  she  believes  that 
the  Body  or  Flesh,  and  the  Blood  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Creator  and  Redeemer  of  the  world,  both 
God  and  man,  united  indivisibly  in  one  person, 
are  verily  and  indeed  given  to,  taken,  eaten,  and 
received  by  the  faithful  in  the  Lord's  Supper, 
under  the  outward  sign  or  form  of  bread  and 
wine,  which  is  on  this  account  the  partaking  or 
communion  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ. 
She  believes  that  the  Eucharist  is  not  the  sign 
of  an  absent  body,  and  that  those  who  partake 

*  General  Convention  Journal  of  1889.     Appendix  xv. 
f  Palmer  on  "  The  Church,"  part  ii.,  chap.  vii. 


86  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

of  it,  receive  not  merely  the  figure  or  shadow, 
or  sign  of  Christ's  Body,  but  the  reality  itself. 
And  as  Christ's  divine  and  human  natures  are 
inseparably  united,  so  she  believes  that  we  re- 
ceive in  the  Eucharist  not  only  the  Flesh  and 
Blood  of  Christ,  but  Christ  Himself  both  God 
and  man." 

III.  We  must  now  speak  particularly  of  what 
may  be  regarded  as  an  essential  feature  of  the 
Eucharistic  Sacrifice,  viz. :  the  Communion,  the 
eating  of  the  sacrifice. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  Communion  acts  in  con- 
nection with  the  Holy  Eucharist.  One  of  these 
is  a  mental  act,  and  is  commonly  called  Spiritual 
Communion.  The  other  is  a  physico-mental  act, 
and  is  known  in  distinction  from  the  other  as 
Sacramental  Communion.  Both  of  these  are  rec- 
ognized by  the  Anglican  Church  and  by  her  great 
Doctors.*  In  the  Rubric  appended  to  the  Office 
for  the  Communion  of  the  Sick  in  the  Prayer 
Book,  these  two  different  modes  of  Communion 
are  alluded  to.  We  are  there  told  how  that 
under  certain  circumstances  by  the  exercise  of 
the  proper  interior  dispositions  of  faith,  repent- 
ance, and  a  thankful  remembrance  of  Christ's 
death,  a  person  may  "  eat  and  drink  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  our  Saviour  Christ  profitably  to  his 
soul's   health,   although   he   do   not    receive    the 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  87 

Sacrament  with  his  mouth."  Here  the  clear  dis- 
tinction is  made  between  Spiritual  Communion 
and  Sacramental  Communion,  or,  as  it  is  called, 
"receiving  the  Sacrament  with  the  mouth."  It 
is  with  this  act  of  Sacramental  Communion  that 
we  are  now  chiefly  concerned,  for  in  this  act  the 
worshipper  consummates  his  sacrifice.  Sacra- 
mental Communion  is  necessary  for  the  integrity 
of  the  sacrifice.  This  is  shown  by  the  stringent 
rule  requiring  Communion,  which  is  so  empha- 
sized in  the  law  and  custom  of  the  Churchy  It 
would  seem  that  the  ideal,  the  standard,  the  per- 
fect Eucharist  should  include  the  Sacramental 
Communion  of  those  present  who  are  qualified 
to  receive.  But  as  Sacramental  Communion  is 
too  sacred  an  act  to  be  done  without  due  prepa- 
ration, the  Church,  that  the  Lord's  command 
constantly  to  show  forth  His  death  may  be 
obeyed,  and  yet  that  the  holy  mysteries  may  not 
be  profaned  by  bad  Sacramental  Communions, 
has  suffered,  such  Communions  to  be  numerically 
reduced  to  very  low  terms.  That  is  to  say,  there 
may  be  a  celebration  with  very  few  Sacramental 
Communions  or  even  with  but  one.  But  that  one 
there  must  be.  The  celebrant  must  receive.  To 
whatever  degree  the  ancient  rules  requiring  re- 
ception may  have  lapsed  into  non-observance  or 
may  have  been  relaxed,  reception  by  the  cele- 
brant has  never  been  dispensed  with.     The  priest 


88  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

to  offer  duly  must  receive.*  Communion  then 
pertains  to  the  perfection  of  sacrifice.  It  seems 
the  special  privilege  and  blessedness  which  a  God 
of  love  has  conferred  upon  the  worship  of  His 
creatures. 

In  the  typical  sacrifices  of  the  old  time  one  of 
the  chief  features  was  the  sacrificial  meal.  Two 
ideas  were  expressed  by  this,  fellowship  and  joy, 
and  that  joy  and  fellowship  were  first  of  all  the 
fellowship  and  joy  of  God  with  man.  This  eat- 
ing of  the  sacrifice  was  especially  conspicuous  in 
connection  with  the  peace-offerings,  and  still 
more  especially  with  that  variety  of  the  peace- 
offerings  which  expressed  thanksgiving,  and 
which  were  therefore  literally  Eucharistic,  as  if 
foreshadowings  and  intimations  of  the  true  Eu- 
charist of  Christ  Himself.f 

The  Shevv-Bread  was  another  marked  type  of 
Communion.  Though  consumed  wholly  by  man 
it  was  first  wholly  dedicated  to  God. if  In  these 
offerings  of  which  the  worshipper  partook  the 
place  of  offering  was  not  merely  a  table  because 
man  ate  of  the  offerings.  It  had  also  the  nature 
of  an  Altar,  because  before  man  could  partake  of 
them  they  must  have  been  offered  to  God. 
There  were   offerings   of  which  the   worshipper 

*Tolet:  Concil.  xii.,  Can.  5. 

f  "Worship  of  the  Old  Covenant,"  chap,  iii.,  sect.  vii. 
X  Ibid.,  chap,  viii.,  sect.  iii. 


THE   LORD'S   SUFFER.  89 

did  not  partake,  as  for  instance,  the  Burnt-Offer- 
ing. And  yet  this  victim  ascending  in  fire  to 
Heaven  is  called  the  "  food  of  the  offering  made 
by  fire  for  a  sweet  savor  "  (Lev.  iii.  16).  It  is 
also  called  "the  bread  of  God"  (Lev.  xxi.  6). 
God  is  spoken  of  as  the  partaker  of  this  sacrifice, 
and  so  the  place  of  offering  is  not  only  called  an 
Altar,  it  is  also  called  a  table,  although  the 
partaker  is  not  man  but  God.*  These  facts  show 
us  that  table  and  Altar  are  both  sacrificial  terms, 
and  are  used  together  to  express  the  full  idea  of 
sacrifice.  The  notion  that  there  is  any  opposi- 
tion between  the  two — that  one  is  sacrificial  and 
the  other  not — seems  entirely  a  modern  one. 

Now  our  Blessed  Lord  unified  and  fulfilled  all 
these  separate  rites  and  ideas.  He  calls  Himself 
the  "  Bread  of  God  "  (S.  John,  vi.  33),  and  in  Him 
God's  eating,  or  acceptance  of  the  sacrifice,  and 
man's  partaking  of  what  is  offered  to  God  are 
made  one  act — Communion.  And  so  an  ancient 
Father  says,  "  The  participation  of  the  divine 
mysteries  is  called  Communion,  because  it  gives 
us  oneness  with  Christ,  and  admits  us  to  the  com- 
munity of  His  Kingdom."  f 

Our  Lord  has  ordained  this  Sacramental  sacri- 
fice in  a  form  which  would  indicate  its  personal 

*  Ezek.  xli.  22;  xliv.  16. 

fS.  Isidore  of  Pelussium,  quoted  by  Dr.  Pusey:  "Doctrine of 
the  Real  Presence  from  the  Fathers,"  p.  666. 


90  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

appropriation  by  both  the  body  and  soul  of  the 
worshipper.  Bread  and  wine  are  the  simple  but 
adequate  representatives  of  the  nourishment  of 
the  natural  life.  The  relation  to  our  life  of  na- 
ture into  which  we  bring  them  as  its  aliment 
would  seem  to  suggest,  by  analogy,  some  equally 
close  relation  of  the  inward  part  of  the  Sacra- 
ment to  our  higher  life  of  soul  and  body. 

Communion,  then,  is  eating  with  God  and  of 
God.  It  declares  vital  union  with  God,  a  union 
of  growth  and  development,  a  taking  up  of  our 
substance  into  the  Divine  and  heavenly.  Com- 
munion is  the  sublimest  act  which  mortal  man  is 
capable  of  doing.  It  is  infinitely  more  than  the 
intercourse  and  exchange  of  thought  between 
kindred  minds.  It  is  far  more  than  the  inter- 
change of  affections  and  of  intelligence.  It  is  the 
fusion  of  life  with  life.  It  is  the  interpenetration 
of  our  being  with  the  Divine  Being.  Think  of  the 
dreadful,  overwhelming  effect  of  God's  glory  and 
beauty.  Even  in  this  life  we  catch  some  faint 
intimations  of  the  Divine  manifestation.  There 
are  sights  in  nature,  even  in  art,  so  grand  and 
beautiful  as  to  be  oppressive  and  positively  pain- 
ful. There  are  effects  of  this  kind  which  are 
purely  moral.  Wicked  men  are  uncomfortable 
and  ill  at  ease  in  the  presence  of  the  good  and 
true.  Simon  Peter,  good  as  men  with  men  are 
good,  overcome  by  a  sudden  sense  of  the  majesty. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  91 

of  the  moral  purity  of  Jesus  Christ  cried  out, 
'•  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O 
Lord!"  It  was  the  voice  of  tenderness  and 
mercy,  knowing  whereof  we  are  made,  which  de- 
clared:  ''There  shall  no  man  see  My  face  and 
live."  God  is  a  consuming  fire,  because  He  is 
Holiness  and  Beauty.  Without  holiness  no  man 
shall  see  the  Lord.  Saul  was  struck  to  the 
ground  and  blinded  by  the  glory  of  the  light  of 
the  ascended  Jesus,  and  we  feel  that  the  experi- 
ence of  the  imperfect  soul,  in  the  wonderful 
"  Dream  of  Gerontius,"  withering  in  the  bright- 
ness of  Love  Divine  and  unable  to  bear  that  blaze, 
is  true. 

And  yet  God  not  only  speaks  to  us;  He  en- 
folds the  soul  and  we  live.  Communion  is  the 
embrace  of  God.  One  of  the  mysteries  of  Com- 
munion is  that  we  live  through  it.  It  is  veiled 
in  a  Sacrament.  Otherwise  we  could  never  bear 
it. 

We  have  not  to  enquire  what  we  receive  in  the 
Holy  Communion,  but  rather  as  to  the  effects  of 
Communion  on  those  who  receive,  for  to  such  as 
worthily  receive,  it  is,  the  Church  asserts,  a  "  di- 
vine and  comfortable  thing." 

Hear  then  what  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  saith. 

He  says,*  that  His  Body  and  Blood  confer  the 
gift   of  Everlasting  Life.     The   meat  which  the 

*  S.  John  vi. 


92  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

Son  of  Man  giveth  is  the  meat  that  endureth 
unto  everlasting  life.  He  is  the  Bread  of  Life. 
He  is  the  true  Bread  from  Heaven.  A  man  may 
eat  of  this  Bread  and  not  die.  If  any  man  eat  of 
this  Bread  he  shall  live  forever.  And  except  ye 
eat  the  Flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man  and  drink  His 
Blood  ye  have  no  life  in  you.  But  whoso  eateth 
His  Flesh  and  drinketh  His  Blood  hath  eternal 
life. 

Next,  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  confer 
Happiness.  "I  am  the  Bread  of  Life:  he  that 
Cometh  to  Me  shall  never  hunger  and  he  that 
believeth  on  Me  shall  never  thirst."  Here  is  as- 
serted the  perfect  satisfaction  of  all  desires.  No 
cravings  that  are  not  fully  met.  No  aspirations 
which  are  not  granted.  The  human  heart  is  in 
perfect  poise  and  equilibrium.  It  is  in  perfect 
peace.  In  this  condition  comes  to  pass  the  be- 
atitude promised  by  Christ  Himself,  *'  Blessed  are 
they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteous- 
ness: for  they  shall  be  filled."  Again,  Commun- 
ion distinctly  involves  a  Physical  Perfection.  It 
works  not  only  spiritual  but  material  bliss,  for, 
*'  Whoso  eateth  My  Flesh  and  drinketh  My  Blood 
hath  eternal  life,  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the 
last  day."  The  consummation  of  the  body  is, 
therefore,  a  fruit  of  Communion. 

Finally,  the  Lord  declares  that  Union  with 
Himself  which  is  so  profound  and  sacred  that  no 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  93 

human  imagination  can  conceive  its  honor  and 
felicity,  nor  human  tongue  describe  its  sweetness. 
''  He  that  eateth  My  Flesh  and  drinketh  My 
Blood  dwelleth  in  Me  and  I  in  Him." 

"As  the  living  Father  hath  sent  Me  and  I  live 
by  the  Father;  so  he  that  eateth  Me,  even  he 
shall  live  by  Me." 

These  words  pass  man's  understanding.  The 
mystery  of  the  Divine  life  and  relations,  the  one- 
ness of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  are  the  arche- 
types of  that  mutual  life  of  Christ  and  the  faith- 
ful communicant  who  feeds  upon  Him. 

Such  is  the  Lord's  own  outline  of  the  conse- 
quences of  a  good  Communion — Vitality,  Hap- 
piness, Resurrection  in  glory,  and  Union  with 
Christ.  S.  Paul,  to  whom  we  must  remember  our 
Lord  gave  a  special  revelation  on  the  Holy  Eu- 
charist, says  that  ''  We  being  many  are  one  bread 
and  one  body:  for  we  are  all  partakers  of  that 
One  Bread."  This  is  involved  in  our  union  with 
Christ.  Being  one  with  Him,  we  are  knit  to- 
gether with  each  other. 

So  speaks  Christ.  Hear  also  what  His  Church 
saith.  The  benefits  which  we  receive  by  Com- 
munion are  said  by  the  Church  to  be  the  strength- 
ening and  refreshing  of  our  souls  by  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ.  Fed  with  the  spiritual  food 
of  the  most  precious  Body  and  Blood  of  our 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  we  are  assured  thereby  of 


94  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

God's  favor  and  goodness  toward  us,  and  that  we 
are  very  members  incorporate  in  the  mystical 
Body  of  His  Son,  which  is  the  blessed  company 
of  all  faithful  people,  and  are  also  heirs  through 
hope  of  His  everlasting  Kingdom  by  the  merits 
of  the  most  precious  death  and  passion  of  His 
dear  Son.  When  the  Church  gives  Communion, 
who  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  words  she 
uses:  "The  Body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
preserve  thy  body  and  soul  unto  everlasting  life  ;  " 
"  The  Blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  preserve 
thy  body  and  soul  unto  everlasting  life."  Both 
parts  of  us,  body  and  soul,  are  provided  for,  and 
brought,  even  during  this  stage  of  our  existence, 
under  the  processes  of  everlasting  life,  with  all 
which  that  implies  of  sanctity  and  splendor. 
Even  now,  compassed  with  infirmity  of  both  the 
outward  and  the  inner  man,  the  Church  would 
keep  us  mindful  that  whenever  we  approach  the 
Altar  we  hasten  the  cleansing  of  the  soul  and 
the  spiritualization  of  the  body  of  our  humilia- 
tion, for  she  teaches  us  that  rightly  eating  the 
Flesh  of  Jesus  Christ  and  drinking  of  His  Blood, 
our  sinful  bodies  are  made  clean  by  His  Body 
and  our  souls  washed  through  His  most  precious 
Blood,  and  we  intensify  our  dwelling  in  Him  and 
His  in  us. 

Comparing  the  expressions  of  the  Church  with 
the  words  of  our  Lord,  we  must  see  that  the 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  95 

Church  has  not  at  all  exaggerated  or  added  to 
what  her  Head  directly  says,  nor  is  there  any  evi- 
dence of  her  trying  to  speak  more  strongly  than 
He  did.  She  only  fairly  echoes  the  words  of 
Christ  Himself.  He  speaks  definitely  and  won- 
derfully as  to  the  virtue  of  Communion.  Is  it 
strange  that  with  His  voice  declaring  the  Altar 
and  its  gifts,  the  Church  should  in  exalted  terms 
speak  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  and  call 
them  Most  Blessed  and  Most  Precious  ?  After 
what  Christ  Himself  has  said,  is  it  strange  that 
the  great  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  Church  dis- 
coursed as  they  have  concerning  this  Blessed 
Sacrament  and  what  is  wrought  by  it  in  human 
souls?  Is  it  strange  that  they  have  given  to  it 
glorious  titles,  and  eulogized  it  as  they  have?  Is 
it  strange  that  they  have  called  it  ''  the  Medi- 
cine of  Immortality,"  *  "the  Corrective  of  the 
passions  of  our  flesh,"f  "  the  Honey-sweet  Food,":j: 
"  Food  which  recruiteth  the  sick,  recalleth  the 
erring,  raiseth  up  the  fallen,  which  to  the  dying 
gives  the  pledge  of  immortality  "  ?  § 

Taught  by  our  Lord,  it  is  only  what  we  might 
have  been  expecting,  to  find  the  loving  minds  of 
His  followers  along  the  ages  reading  in  the  his- 


*  S.  Ign.  ad  Eph.  n.  20.      ■\  ^       ^  ..rr.,     -.^     ,  -r^ 

t  S.Clement  of  Alex.  \^''    ^^^f  =      The  Real  Presence 

t  Inscription  at  Autun.  S      ^''^"^  "^^  ^^'^^''" 

§  Julius  Firmicus,  quoted  by  Dr.  Pusey. 


96  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

toryof  the  Old  Testament  a  history  of  the  power 
of  His  Body  and  Blood  over  human  nature.  In 
the  Tree  of  Life,  in  the  Bread  and  Wine  which 
Melchisedec  brought  forth,  in  the  white  shower 
of  Manna,  in  Gideon's  Cake  of  barley  bread,  in 
the  Cake  which  renewed  Elijah's  strength,  in  the 
widow's  handful  of  Meal,  in  the  Coal  which 
purged  Isaiah's  lips,  and  in  other  types  they  saw 
foreshadowed  their  strength  and  refreshment  who 
feed  on  Christ,  In  Him  they  found  indeed  how 
great  were  His  Goodness  and  His  Beauty,  as  in 
the  Blessed  Sacrament  He  fulfilled  the  prophecy 
that  He  should  be  the  Corn  of  the  Elect,  and  the 
Wine  that  blossoms  into  virgins."^ 

No  treatise  on  Communion,  in  the  effects  at- 
tributed to  Christ's  sacred  Body  and  Blood,  can 
well  go  beyond  the  depth  and  fulness  of  Christ's 
own  words.  He,  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  is  the 
True  Manna,  the  Bread  from  Heaven,  the  Food  of 
Angels,  the  Bread  containing  in  itself  all  sweet- 
ness. 

All  the  theologians,  poets,  and  sacred  orators 
of  the  Catholic  Church  have  found  in  the  words 
of  Christ  Himself  the  justification  of  everything 
they  say  in  regard  to  the  benefits  of  our  partak- 
ing of  Christ's  Flesh  and  Blood.  From  Him  they 
learned  to  look  for  strength,  and  joy,  and  purity, 
and  love  as  fruits  of  Communion.  If  the  soul  is 
*  Zech.  ix.  17  :    Vulgate, 


THE   LORD'S   SUPPER.  97 

struggling  with  temptation,  weighed  down  by 
care  or  sorrow,  if  faith  be  languishing  and  shaken, 
the  Body  of  Christ  is  the  Bread  by  which  out  of 
weakness  strength  may  come,  and  His  Precious 
Blood  is  the  Chalice  which  overflows  with  hope 
and  gladness. 

Those  who  are  accustomed  to  observe  and 
study  the  spiritual  life  recognize  at  once  those 
who  feed  upon  the  Bread  of  Life.  They  perceive 
in  them  a  certain  quality  felt  far  better  than  it 
can  be  described.  There  is  an  intensity,  an  en- 
thusiasm about  them  which  are  the  results  of 
Communion— the  enthusiasm,  the  intensity  of  the 
Divine  life.  Kneeling  at  the  Altar  they  are  filled 
with  grace  and  heavenly  benediction.  Christ 
dwells  in  them  and  they  in  Him.  They  have  a 
firmer  grasp  than  others  on  spiritual  and  unseen 
things.  They  have  more  insight  into  the  invisi- 
ble. They  can  bear  more.  They  have  more 
patience.  The  world,  its  ways,  its  maxims,  and 
its  rewards  have  a  looser  hold  on  them  than  on 
others.  They  have  more  perseverance.  They 
make,  and  are  capable  of,  greater  self-sacrifices 
than  others.  Now  all  this  is  love.  God  is  love. 
They  have  touched  God.  They  have  hid  their 
life  in  Him  with  Christ.  Therefore  they  love 
with  a  fervor  which  can  come  from  no  other 
source.  The  higher  substance  takes  up  the  lower 
into  itself.  "  He  that  eateth  Me  even  he  shall 
7 


98  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER, 

live  by  Me."  That  is  the  philosophy  of  Commun- 
ion. Christ  changes  the  devout  communicant 
into  Himself.  You  cannot  eat  Christ  without 
being  changed  into  Christ.  The  very  structure 
of  your  being  is  altered  by  Communion.  This 
has  ever  been  the  experience  of  Christians,  who, 
kept  from  serious  aberration  by  the  supernatural 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  within  the  Church, 
have  followed  the  teaching  of  Jesus  Christ.  That 
experience  of  the  Christian  world  has  ever  testi- 
fied to  the  powerful  effects  of  Communion  in  the 
enrichment  and  transformation  of  the  soul.  And 
for  this  reason  the  Christian  sense  has  seen  that 
it  is  the  soul's  daily  right  and  need.  The  Body 
of  Christ  is  the  daily  portion.  The  Communion 
of  Christ's  Body  is  the  answer  to  the  prayer  of 
the  children  of  God,  ''  Give  us  this  day  our  daily 
bread." 

"After  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  says  an  an- 
cient Father,*  "  who  would  ask  for  temporal 
Bread?  But  daily  and  every  day  He  would  have 
us  ask  for  bread  for  our  journey  in  the  Sacra- 
ment of  His  Body,  that  by  it  we  may  attain  unto 
endless  day."  And  in  like  strain  of  the  chalice 
says  another,f  "  The  Only-Begotten  hath  come, 
hath  come!  and  so  declares  our  Mother  Church, 
the    quiet    harbor   of    peace,  the  sweetness  that 

*  S.  Peter  Chrysologus:  Dr.  Pusey,  ut  supra. 
\  S.  Epiphanius,  ibid. 


THE  LORD'S   SUFFER.  99 

*  breathes  of  the  bloom  of  the  vine,'  and  gives  to 
us  the  cluster  of  blessing,  and  that  offers  to  us 
day  by  day  the  draught  which  lightens  toil,  the 
Blood  of  Christ,  unmixed  and  true." 

The  most  signal  triumphs  of  Christ's  soldiers 
and  servants  over  sin,  the  world,  and  the  devil 
have  been  won  in  the  courage  and  inspiration  of 
His  own  Body  and  Blood.  This  is  illustriously 
shown  in  the  narrative  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles. In  their  holiness  and  dauntless  fortitude 
and  love  to  one  another  we  must  not  forget  that 
the  Holy  Ghost  led  them  daily  to  the  Altar. 
They  continued  steadfastly  in  the  breaking  of 
the  Bread.  And  in  its  strength  and  refreshment 
they  stood  before  kings  and  were  not  ashamed, 
calmly  facing  whatever  man  might  do  unto  them. 

Christ's  Body  was  then  and  is  now  the  support 
of  those  who,  though  they  must  be  in  the  world, 
would  yet  not  be  of  the  world.  Engrossed  with 
the  necessary  cares,  burdened  with  the  toils  and 
griefs  of  this  life,  they  must  work  out  their  salva- 
tion. What  shall  defend  them  from  the  corrup- 
tion that  is  in  the  world,  so  that  they  may  pass 
through  it  as  strangers  and  pilgrims,  without 
forgetting  or  dishonoring  their  citizenship  in 
Heaven?  The  Body  of  Christ.  That  is,  as  the 
manna  was,  the  pilgrim's  meat.  The  manna  was 
the  daily  constant  bread,  and  the  True  Manna  is 
no  less  our  Bread  for  every  day.     It  is  the  force, 


lOO-  THE  LORD'S   SUPPER. 

the  motive  power,  of  the  Christian  life.  As  S. 
Ambrose  says,  "A  figure  of  the  Lord's  Body  was 
foreshowed  when  the  Lord  rained  manna  upon 
the  fathers  in  the  wilderness,  or  even  as  that  bread 
led  the  people  through  the  wilderness  to  the 
Promised  Land,  so  this  celestial  food  carrieth  the 
faithful,  who  are  passing  through  this  world's 
wilderness  to  Heaven.  Whence  rightly  is  it  called 
the  Viaticum,  because  it  refresheth  us  on  our 
journey  even  until  it  bringeth  us  to  our  native 
land."* 

As  we  touch  Christ  in  His  Sacrament  we  are 
concerned  not  only  with  the  marvels  of  present 
grace,  but  with  those  of  future  glory.  Commun- 
ion is  the  greatest  and  most  real  witness  to  the 
resurrection  of  the  flesh.  Every  good  commun- 
ion is  an  addition  to  the  degrees  of  power,  to 
the  rays  of  glory  in  which  the  body  shall  be 
raised.  "  He  Himself  feeds  and  refreshes  us," 
says  f  S.  Ambrose  again  ;  "  Thou  gatherest  there 
the  new  flower  which  giveth  forth  the  sweet  smell 
of  the  resurrection ;  thou  gatherest  the  lily,  that 
is,  the  brightness  of  eternity;  thou  gatherest  the 
rose,  that  is,  the  Blood  of  the  Lord's  Body." 

Most  glorious  among  the  galaxy  of  the  resur-^ 
rection  stars  will  shine  those  who  have  made  the 
best    Communions.     They    who   have    been  the 

*  S.  Thomas  Aquinas  :  "Sacrament  of  the  Altar,"  chap,  xxiii. 
f  Dr.  Pusey,  ut  supra. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  loi 

truest  and  most  loving  children  of  the  Altar  will 
wear  the  most  radiant  aureoles  when  Christ  shall 
come  to  be  glorified  in  His  saints,  and  to  be  ad- 
mired in  all  them  that  believe  in  that  day. 

We  are  not  worthy  to  gather  up  the  crumbs 
under  God's  Table,  and  yet  ''truly  our  fellowship 
(Communion)  is  with  the  Father,  and  with  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ."  * 

What  a  heritage  is  this  supreme  revelation  of 
the  love  of  God  !  The  Holy  Eucharist  is  the  voice, 
and  reality,  and  life  of  the  world  to  come,  that 
world  which  is  to  replace  this  one.  It  is  the  wit- 
ness of  the  Atonement,  the  Incarnation,  and  the 
Resurrection.  It  attests  what  God  has  done,  and 
is  doing,  and  will  yet  do  to  heal  the  hurt  of  His 
people.  It  declares  that  the  restitution  of  all 
things  has  begun. 

There  is  nothing  heard  on  this  earth  like  the  f 
voice  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  The  world  is 
faithless,  and  hopeless,  and  loveless.  It  boasts, 
and  scoffs,  and  sneers,  and  curses,  and  despairs. 
But  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  a  perpetual  voice  of 
joy,  and  health,  and  hope  and  promise.  Through 
all  the  pain,  and  tears,  and  darkness  of  this  world, 
there  comes  from  the  Altar  a  continual  thanks- 
giving.    *'  We  should  at  all  times  and  in  all  places 

*  I  John  i.  3. 

f  *'  Over  against  pessimism  it  [the  Church]  lifts  up  a  perpetual 
Eucharist." — "  Lux  Mundi :  "   Essay  on  the  Church. 


I02  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

give  thanks  unto  Thee,  O  Lord."  They  who 
live  of  the  Altar  are  never  dismayed.  They 
know  that  the  heaviness  endures  but  for  the 
night,  now  far  spent,  and  that  soon  the  morning 
Cometh,  when  all  will  see  that  Jesus  is  standing 
on  the  shore. 

And  yet  as  we  glance  over  the  land  and  note 
the  closed  churches,  and  the  Altars  silent  and 
deserted  even  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  we 
must  confess  how  far  from  conscious  of  her  goodly 
heritage  our  Church  yet  seems  to  be.  We  have 
inherited  a  vast  system  of  prevailing  appeal  to 
God,  and  of  spiritual  sustenance  to  the  soul,  which 
we  do  not  begin  to  use. 

One  of  the  great  duties  to  which  God  calls  us 
is  the  restoration  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  to  its 
primitive  place  as  the  worship  and  life  of  the 
Church.  We  need  more  Altars,  but  before  that 
we  want  more  celebrations  and  more  and  better 
Communions  at  the  Altars  which  we  already 
have.  All  can  set  forward  this  great  work  by 
their  own  Communions,  by  their  prayers,  their 
alms,  their  fastings,  their  repentance,  their  influ- 
ence and  their  example.  We  should  aim  to  se- 
cure to  every  Church  a  celebration  at  least  every 
Sunday.  And  wherever  possible  we  should  do 
our  utmost  to  establish  the  daily  celebration  of 
the  Holy  Sacrifice. 

What  a  work,  gentlemen,  you  have  it  in  your 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER.  103 

power  to  accomplish  right  here  in  this  great 
metropolis!  What  are  all  these  great  Churches 
for,  which  you  are  rearing,  if  not,  as  *  S.  Paul  ex- 
horted, "  first  of  all "  to.  make  giving  of  thanks, 
Eucharists,  for  all  men,  to  plead  day  by  day  the 
merits  of  Christ's  Sacrifice,  and  to  hold  out  to 
hungry,  fainting  souls  the  Bread  of  Life,  the  Daily 
Bread  ? 

Not  that  we  would  have  our  pulpits  preach 
less,  but  we  would  have  our  Altars  preach  more. 
We  are  continually  urging  the  pulpit  to  put  forth 
its  preaching  capacity.  Let  us  utilize  the  preach- 
ing capacity  of  the  Altar.  It  would  solve  many 
of  the  hard  questions  and  supply  many  of  the 
pressing  needs  for  which  we  vainly  seek  answer 
and  supply. 

God  speed  the  day  when  in  every  Church  the 
Altar  shall  be  daily  used  to  speak  to  and  to 
feast  with  God,  when  every  Church  shall  be  an 
open  Church,  where  Jesus  may  be  always  found 
to  bless  the  sick  and  dying,  and  to  welcome  all 
who  turn  aside  from  the  noisy  paths  of  men  to 
seek  His  Face. 

*  I  Tim.  ii.  i. 


APPENDIX. 
The  Holy  Eucharist. 

Note  I. — In  the  early  Church  this  Sacrament  was 
known  by  many  names.  It  was  sometimes  simply  called 
Sacrifice,  Oblation,  Eucharist,  and  again  Reasonable  and 
Unbloody  Sacrifice,  Sacrifice  of  the  Altar,  Sacrifice  of  our 
Ransom,  Sacrifice  of  our  Mediator,  and  Sacrifice  of  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  This  nomenclature  was 
adopted  advisedly  by  holy  men  even  at  a  time  when  the 
bloody  and  material  sacrifices  of  the  heathen  had  not 
ceased  in  the  civilized  world.  Everywhere  in  the  early 
ages  of  Christianity  were  the  words  of  Malachi  understood 
as  an  express  and  undoubted  prophecy  of  the  Christian 
Sacrifice.  Not  in  one  place,  like  the  Sacrifices  of  the  Law, 
but  in  every  place,  on  countless  altars,  and  among  all  na- 
tions is  the  Pure  Offering,  the  Unbloody  Sacrifice  of  the 
Eucharist  offered  to-day  by  the  Church  in  obedience  to 
the  command  of  her  Divine  Head. 

Note  II. — Speaking  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice  that 
great  Bishop,  Jeremy  Taylor,  uses  the  following  language: 
"  Now  what  Christ  does  in  Heaven,  He  hath  commanded 
us  to  do  on  earth,  that  is  to  represent  His  death,  to  com- 
memorate the  sacrifice  by  humble  prayer  and  thankful 
record ;  and  by  faithful  manifestation  and  joyful  Eucha- 
rist to  lay  it  before  the  eyes  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  so 
ministering  in  His  Priesthood,  and  doing  accordingto  His 
commandment  and  His  example  ;  the  Church  being  the 
image  of  Heaven  ;  the  priest,  the  minister  of  Christ;  the 
holy  table  being  a  copy  of  the  celestial  Altar;  and  the 
eternal  sacrifice  of  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world,  being  always  the  same,  it  bleeds  no  more  after 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  105 

the  finishing  of  it  on  the  Cross ;  but  it  is  wonderfully  rep- 
resented in  Heaven,  and  graciously  represented  here ;  by 
Christ's  action  there,  by  His  commandment  here."  The 
Worthy  Communica7it,  Vol.  III.,  p.  871.  Ed.  Lond.  1835. 
Note  HI. — Before  giving  specimens  of  patristic  allu- 
sions to  the  sacrificial  nature  of  the  Holy  Eucharist,  it  is 
worth  while  to  notice  the  weighty  facts  adduced  by  Bishop 
Forbes,  when  he  says:  "The  Breaking  of  the  Bread  and 
the  Prayers,"  which  are  the  terms  used  for  the  worship  of 
the  primitive  Church,  have  from  the  beginning  been  in- 
vested with  a  sacrificial  character.  The  Greek  original  of 
the  New  Testament  brings  this  out  much  more  strongly 
than  the  English  translation.  Thus  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Holy  Apostles,  the  expression,  "as  they  were  ministering," 
is  rendered  by  the  hieratic  word  AeimvpyovvTuv ;  the  Christian 
ministers  in  the  person  of  Christ  ruv  ayiuv  'Xetrovpyog  ("  min- 
ister of  the  sanctuary,"  Heb.  viii.  2,  A.  V.)  are  diaKuvoi  rf/g 
Kaiv7)c  dia'&ijKTjg  ("  ministers  of  the  New  Testament  "  2  Cor. 
iii.  6,  A.  v.);  the  worship  of  the  Church  of  the  Gentiles 
as  elected  on  the  ruin  of  the  Jews  is  the  rrpdaipopa  ruv  Wvuv  ; 
not  only  evxai  and  der/aeig  ("  prayers  and  supplication  ")  but 
evxapiaTiai  are  to  be  offered  for  all  men  (I  Timothy  ii.  i);  it 
is  asserted  that  exofiev  ■&vaiaaT^piov  ("  we  have  an  altar,"  Heb. 
xiii.  10,  A.  v.);  the  old  Levitical  words  adscara  "sacrificial 
commemoration,"  rendered  hvaptqaiq^  and  asah,  rendered 
T:oLtlvhy  the  LXX,,  are  adopted  by  Christianity;  (these 
words  <iva//v?/(Tfc  and  Troiavare  used  by  our  Lord  in  the  Insti- 
tution of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  and  are  rendered  in  our 
English  Bibles  "  Remembrance  "  and  "  Do."  S.  Luke  xxii. 
19;  I  Cor.  xi.  24 — G.  McC.  F.)  and  S.  Paul,  animated  en- 
tirely by  the  sacerdotal  idea,  calls  himself  TieiTovpybv  'Iijaov 
Xpc(TTov  elg  rd  E'&vtj,  lepovpyovvra  to  evayykT^iov  rov  6eoi),  Iva  yivTfrai 
Tj  TcpoG^opa  Tuv  MvQV  EVTrpdaSeKTog,  yyiaafiivrf  kv  Tlvev/xarc  'Ay/w. 
Accordingly  in  the  very  earliest  ages,  we  find  such  ex- 


io6  APPENDIX. 

pressions,  'Kpoa^opa^  '&vGia,  iepovpyia,  Oblatio,  Sacrificium 
Dominicwn,  Dominicum,  freely  used,  and  the  sacrificial 
aspect  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  clearly  stated  by  S.  Clem- 
ent of  Rome,  and  by  S.  Ignatius.  S.  Justin  speaks  of  the 
Eucharistic  Sacrifice  being  pre-signified  by  the  Pure  Of- 
fering mentioned  by  the  Prophet  Malachi.  S.  Irenaeus, 
after  relating  the  institution,  adds  this  remark :  "  Thus 
Jesus  Christ  has  established  the  Sacrifice  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, which  the  Church  off"ers  to  God  throughout  the 
whole  world,  according  to  the  teaching  handed  down  by 
the  Apostles."  S.  Iren.  iv.  i8,  n.  4.  He  states  that  it  is 
the  Word,  Who  is  offered  in  this  Sacrifice. 

Origen  asserts  that  "  in  the  Christian  Churches  there  is 
a  Sacrifice,  at  once  commemorative  and  propitiatory,  that 
is  to  say  the  Eucharist."  In  Lev.  Horn,  xiii,  n.  3.  Expla- 
nation of  the  Thirty-Nine  Articles.  Art.  XXXI.  "  Now  the 
Offerings  and  Ministrations  {rag  re  irpoacpopdg  Kai  leLrovpyiag) 
He  commanded  to  be  performed  with  care  and  not  to  be 
done  rashly  or  in  disorder,  but  at  fixed  times  and  seasons. 
.  .  .  They  therefore  that  make  their  offerings  {irpoaipopdq-) 
at  the  appointed  seasons  are  acceptable  and  blessed."  S. 
Cletnent  of  Rome  to  the  Cori7tthians,  40. 

"  For  it  will  be  no  light  sin  for  us,  if  we  thrust  out 
those  who  have  offered  the  gifts  of  the  bishop's  office  un- 
blameably  and  holily."  Idid.,  44 — note  8  on  the  Greek  text, 
"  What  does  Cleme7it  tnean  by  sacrifices,  by  gifts  {8opa),  and 
offerings  (jrpoacpopdc)?  etc." 

"  If  any  one  be  not  within  the  precincts  of  the  Altar 
{^vGLacTrjpiov),  he  lacketh  the  Bread  of  God."  S.  Ignatius  to 
the  Ephesians,  v. 

"  Hasten  to  come  together  all  of  you,  as  to  one  temple, 
even  God ;  as  to  one  Altar,  even  to  one  Jesus  Christ." 
S.  Ign.  to  the  Magnesians,  vii. 

"  Be  ye  careful  therefore  to  observe  One  Eucharist  (for 


HOLY  EUCHARIST,  107 

there  is  One  Flesh  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  One  Cup 
unto  union  in  His  Blood  ;  there  is  one  Altar,  as  there  is 
one  bishop,  together  with  the  presbytery  and  the  deacons 
my  fellow-servants),  that  whatsoever  ye  do,  ye  may  do  it 
after  God."     S.  Ign.  to  the  Philadelphians^  iv. 

The  above  extracts  are  from  Bp.  Lightfoot's  edition  of 
the  Apostolic  Fathers. 

"  Hence  God  speaks  thus,  as  I  said  before,  by  Malachi, 
one  of  the  twelve  prophets,  of*  the  sacrifices  then  offered 
by  you  :  /  have  no  pleasure  in  you,  saith  the  Lord,  neither 
will  I  accept  your  offeriiigs  at  your  hands;  for  from  the  ris- 
ing of  the  sun  eveti  unto  the  going  down  of  the  same.  My 
Name  hath  been  glorified  amo7ig  the  Gentiles;  and  i7i  every 
place  incense  is  offered  unto  My  Name  and  a  Pure  Offer- 
ing; for  My  Name  is  great  among  the  heathen,  saith  the 
Lord,  but  ye  prof  a  fie  it"     (Mai.  i.  10-12.) 

"With  regard  to  these  sacrifices  which  are  offered  to 
Him  in  every  place  by  us  Gentiles,  that  is  of  theEucharis- 
tical  Bread  and  equally  of  the  Eucharistical  Cup,  He 
then  foretold  that  we  should  glorify  His  Name,  but  that 
you  should  profane  it." 

*'  God  has  therefore  beforehand  declared,  that  all  who 
through  this  Name  offer  these  sacrifices,  which  Jesus, 
Who  is  the  Christ,  commanded  to  be  offered,  that  is  to  say 
in  the  Eucharist  of  the  Bread  and  of  the  Cup,  which  are 
offered  in  every  part  of  the  world  by  us  Christians,  are 
well  pleasing  to  Him.  But  those  sacrifices  which  are  of- 
fered by  you,  and  through  these  priests  of  yours.  He 
wholly  rejects,  saying.  And  J  will  not  accept  these  offerings 
at  your  hands.  For  from  the  rising  of  the  sun,  even  to 
the  going  down  of  the  same.  My  Name  is  glorified  amor^ 
the  Gentiles;  but  ye  profane  it."  S.  Justin  Martyr,  Dial. 
Try  ph.,  41 ,  117.     Oxford  IJbrary  of  the  Fathers. 

*'  But  every  Lord's  Day  do  you  gather  yourselves  to- 


io8  APPENDIX. 

gether,  and  break  bread,  and  give  thanksgiving  after  hav- 
ing confessed  your  trangressions,  that  your  sacrihce  may 
be  pure.  .  .  .  For  this  is  that,  which  was  spoken  by  the 
Lord :  In  every  place  and  time  offer  to  Me  a  Pure  Sacri- 
fice ;  for  I  am  a  Great  King,  saith  the  Lord,  and  My  name 
is  wonderful  among  the  nations."  Teaching  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles,  chap.  xiv.    Ante-Nicene  Fathers,  Am.  Ed.  vii.  38 1 . 

"  Then  after  having  completed  the  spiritual  sacrifice, 
the  bloodless  larptta  upon  that  sacrifice  of  propitiation  we 
invoke  God  for  the  common  peace  of  the  Churches ;  for 
the  good  condition  of  the  World  ;  for  Kings ;  for  soldiers 
and  allies ;  for  those  who  are  infirm ;  for  those  who  are 
heavy  laden ;  and  in  sum  for  all  who  need  assistance  we 
all  pray  and  offer  this  sacrifice.  Then  we  remem- 
ber also  those  who  have  fallen  asleep  before,  first  the 
patriarchs,  prophets,  apostles,  martyrs  ;  that  God  by  their 
prayers  and  intercessions,  may  receive  our  supplica- 
tions ;  then  also  for  the  holy  fathers  and  bishops  who 
have  fallen  asleep  before,  and  for  all  those  in  fine,  who 
have  fallen  asleep  before  among  us;  believing  that  there 
will  be  the  greatest  profit  to  the  souls  for  whom  the  sup- 
plication is  offered  up  whilst  the  holy  and  most  awful 
sacrifice  lies  before  us."  S.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem,  Catecheti- 
cal Lectures,  Lecture  xxiii..  Sections  7-9. 

"  We  offer  Jesus  Christ  immolated  for  our  sins."  Ibid, 
Sect.  10. 

"  And  behold  the  corpse  was  carried  to  its  burial ;  we 
went  and  returned  without  tears.  For  neither  in  those 
prayers  which  we  poured  forth  unto  Thee,  when  the  Sac- 
rifice of  our  Ransom  was  offered  for  her,  when  now  the 
corpse  was  by  the  grave's  side,  as  the  manner  there  is, 
previous  to  its  being  laid  therein,  did  I  weep  even  during 
these  prayers."  S.  Aug.  Conf.  B.,  ix.  IT  32.  Oxford  Li- 
brary of  the  Fathers,  i.,  178. 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  109 

"  Thus  He  (Christ)  is  both  the  Priest,  who  offers,  and 
the  Sacrifice  offered.  And  He  designed  that  there  should 
be  a  daily  sign  of  this  in  the  Sacrifice  of  the  Church, 
which  being  His  Body  learns  to  offer  herself  through 
Him.  Of  this  true  Sacrifice  the  ancient  sacrifices  of  the 
saints  were  the  various  and  numerous  signs ;  and  it  was 
thus  variously  figured,  just  as  one  thing  is  signified  by  a 
variety  of  words,  that  there  may  be  less  weariness  when 
we  speak  of  it  much.  To  this  supreme  and  true  sacrifice 
all  false  sacrifices  have  given  place.  5.  Aug.,  City  of  God, 
bk.  x.,chap.  XX.  Nic.  and Post-Nic.  Fathers,  Am.  Ed.,  it.,  193. 

"  The  Hebrews  in  their  animal  sacrifices,  which  they, 
offered  to  God  in  many  varied  forms,  suitably  to  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  institution,  typified  the  sacrifice  offered 
by  Christ.  This  sacrifice  is  also  commemorated  by 
Christians  in  the  sacred  offering  and  participation  of  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ."  S.  Aug.,  Reply  to  Fausius, 
XX.,  18.     Nzc.  and  Post-Nic.  Fathers,  Am.  Ed.,  iv.,  261. 

"  There  stands  the  priest,  not  bringing  down  fire  from 
Heaven,  but  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  he  makes  prolonged 
supplication,  not  that  some  flame  sent  down  from  on 
high  may  consume  the  offerings,  but  that  grace  descend- 
ing on  the  sacrifice  may  thereby  enlighten  the  souls  of  all, 
and  render  them  more  refulgent  than  silver  purified  by 
fire."  S.  Chrysostom,  Oti  the  Priesthood,  bk.  Hi.,  chap.  4. 
Nic.  and  Post-Nic.  Fathers,  ix.,  47. 

"  For  this  end  are  fasting  and  Lent  appointed,  and  so 
many  days  of  solemn  assemblies,  auditories,  prayers,  and 
teachings,  in  order  that  by  this  earnestness  being  cleansed 
in  every  possible  way  from  the  sins  which  we  had  con- 
tracted during  the  whole  year,  we  may  with  spiritual 
boldness  religiously  partake  of  that  unbloody  Sacrifice." 
S.  Chrysostom,  On  the  Statues,  Ham.  xx,  ch.  i.  Nic.  and 
Post-Nic.  Fathers,  ix.,  471. 


no  APPENDIX. 

"  What  sayest  thou  ?  There  is  the  sacrifice  in  hand 
and  all  things  laid  out  duly  ordered.  Angels  are  there 
present,  archangels,  the  Son  of  God  is  there ;  all  stand 
with  such  awe,  and  in  the  general  silence  those  (the  dea- 
cons) stand  by,  crying  aloud  ;  and  thinkest  thou  that  what 
is  done  is  done  in  vain  ?  "  S.  Chrysostojn,  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles, Horn.  XXI.     Nic.  and  Post- Nic.  Fathers,  xL,  140. 

"  When  he  that  is  over  the  Church  cometh  in,  he 
straightway  says,  *  Peace  unto  all ; '  when  he  preacheth, 
'Peace  unto  all;'  when  he  blesseth,  'Peace  unto  all;' 
when  he  biddeth  to  salute  '  Peace  unto  all ; '  when  the 
Sacrifice  is  finished,  '  Peace  unto  all ; '  and  again  in  the 
middle,  '  Grace  to  you  and  Peace.' "  S.  Chrysostom, 
Homilies  on  Colossians,  Horn.  Hi.  Nic.  and  Post-Nic. 
Fathers,  xiii.,  273. 

"  The  Mystery  at  Easter  is  not  of  more  efficacy  than 
that  which  is  now  celebrated.  It  is  t)ne  and  the  same. 
There  is  the  same  grace  of  the  Spirit,  it  is  always  a  Pass- 
over. You  who  are  initiated  know  this.  On  the  Prepa- 
ration, on  the  Sabbath,  on  the  Lord's  Day,  and  on  the 
Day  of  Martyrs,  it  is  the  same  Sacrifice  that  is  performed. 
'For  as  often,'  He  saith,  'as  ye  eat  this  bread  and  drink 
this  cup,  ye  do  show  the  Lord's  death.'  No  time  is  lim- 
ited for  the  performance  of  this  sacrifice."  S.  Chrysostoin, 
Homilies  on  Timothy,  Hom.  v.  Nic.  and  Post-Nic.  Fa- 
thers, xiii.,  425. 

No.  81  of  Tracts  of  the  T'lm&s— Catena  Patrum — is  a 
most  valuable  collection  of  the  "  Testimony  of  Later  En- 
glish Writers  to  the  Doctrine  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice." 

Note  IV. — Prayer  for  the  Faithful  Departed,  as  con- 
spicuous objects  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice,  is  one  of  the 
most  prominent   features  of  Catholic   Liturgies.    E.  g. 
The  Liturgy  of  S.  Mark : 
"  Give  rest  to  the  souls  of  our  fathers  and  brethren  that 


HOLY  EUCHARIST,  m 

have  heretofore  slept  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  O  Lord 
our  God,  remembering  our  ancestors,  fathers,  patriarchs, 
prophets,  apostles,  martyrs,  confessors,  bishops,  holy  and 
just  persons,  every  spirit  that  has  departed  in  the  faith  of 
Christ,  and  those  whom  to-day  we  keep  in  memory 
(and  our  holy  father,  Mark,  the  Apostle  and  Evangelist, 
who  made  known  to  us  the  way  of  Salvation.)  .  .  .  The 
Deacon  reads  the  Diptychs  of  the  departed.  The  Priest 
bows  down  and  prays:  And  to  the  spirits  of  all  these  give 
rest,  our  Master,  Lord  and  God,  in  the  Tabernacles  of 
Thy  Saints,  vouchsafing  to  them  in  Thy  Kingdom  the 
good  things  of  Thy  promise,  which  eye  hath  not  seen,  and 
ear  hath  not  heard,  and  it  hath  not  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man,  the  things,  which  Thou  hast  prepared,  O 
God,  for  them  that  love  Thy  holy  name.  Grant  rest  to 
their  souls,  and  vouchsafe  to  them  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven."  Translation  of  Primitive  Liturgies y  Neale  and 
Littledale,  pp.  17,  18. 

On  the  above  passage  Dr.  Neale  remarks :  "  Observe 
here  (i)  one  of  the  many  examples  of  prayers  for  the  dead 
as  an  Isapostolic  practice;  (2)  that  nevertheless,  every 
single  expression  contained  in  them  militates  against  the 
doctrine  of  a  purgatory — /.  e.  in  the  sense  of  a  place  of 
pain. 
The  Liturgy  of  S.  James : 

"  Grant  that  our  oblations  may  be  well  pleasing  to 
Thee  and  hallowed  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  a  propitiation 
of  our  transgressions,  and  of  the  ignorances  of  the  people, 
and  for  the  repose  of  the  souls  that  have  fallen  asleep." 
Neale  and  Littledale,  ut  supra,  p.  46. 

The  Liturgy  of  S.  Chrysostom : 

"  And  further  we  offer  to  Thee  this  reasonable  service 
on  behalf  of  those  who  have  departed  in  the  faith,  our  an- 
cestors. Fathers,   Patriarchs,  Apostles,  Preachers,  Evan- 


112  APPENDIX. 

Selists,  Martyrs,  Confessors,  Virgins,  and  every  just  spirit 
made  perfect  in  the  faith."  Neale  and  Littledale,  ut  supra, 
p.  ii6. 

For  an  easily  accessible  collection  of  Prayers  for  the 
Dead  from  the  Liturgies  the  reader  is  referred  to  Appen- 
dix II.  of  the  above  work  of  Neale  and  Littledale,  and  to 
Chapter  V.  of  Dr.  F.  G.  Lee's  "  Christian  Doctrine  of 
Prayer  for  the  Departed." 

Note  V.— The  XXXI.  Article  of  Religion  does  not 
declare  against  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Sacrifice  of 
the  Altar,  but  censures  an  erroneous  view  of  that  doctrine. 

Palmer  in  his  Treatise  on  the  Church  says :  *  "  The 
Thirty-First  Article  is  directed  against  the  vulgar  and  her- 
etical doctrine  of  the  reiteration  of  Christ's  Sacrifice  in 
the  Eucharist.  It  was  those  '  missarum  sacrificia,  quibus 
vulgo  dicebatur  sacerdotem  offerri  Christum  in  remissio- 
nem  poenae,  aut  culpse,  pro  vivis  et  defunctis '  which  are 
pronounced  'blasphema  figmenta  et  perniciosse  impos- 
turae;'  but  not  'missarum  sacrificia'  as  understood  by 
the  fathers,  and  in  an  orthodox  sense.  The  article  was 
directed  against  the  errors  maintained  and  contenanced 
by  such  men  as  Soto,  Hardinge,  etc.,  who  by  rejecting  the 
doctrine  of  a  sacrifice  by  way  of  commemoration  and 
consecration,  and  not  literally  identical  with  that  on  the 
Cross,  and  by  their  crude  and  objectionable  mode  of  ex- 
pression, countenanced  the  vulgar  error  that  the  Sacri- 
fice of  the  Eucharist  or  Mass  was  in  every  respect  equal 
to  that  of  Christ  upon  the  Cross,  and  that  it  was  in  fact 
either  a  reiteration  or  a  continuation  of  that  Sacrifice  " 
(actively  a  continuation).  "  The  Article  was  not  directed 
against  the  doctrine  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice,  as  ex- 
plained by  Bossuet,  Veron,  and  others,  with  which  we 
have  no  material  fault  to  find." 

*  Part  VI.,  Ch.  X. 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  1 13 

The  Church  of  Rome,  in  fairness,  should  be  acquitted 
of  the  charge  of  authoritatively  teaching  the  false  and  her- 
etical doctrine  condemned  by  this  Article,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  prevalent  view  among  the  masses  of  her 
adherents  upon  the  subject. 

Note  VI. — "  We  find  no  debates  or  disputes  concerning 
the  Presence  of  Christ's  Body  in  the  Sacrament,  and 
much  less  concerning  the  manner  of  his  Presence,  for  the 
first  800  years." 

"  The  first  doubt  about  the  Presence  of  Christ's  Body 
in  the  Sacrament  seems  to  have  been  moved  not  long  be- 
fore the  year  900."  Anglo-Catholic  Library,  Bramhalt s 
Works,  vol.  i.,  pp.  9  and  11. 

Note  VII. — Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  Church's 
teaching  of  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice  and  of  the  Real  Ob- 
jective Presence  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  it  is  the 
plainest  matter  of  fact  that  they  are  the  doctrines  of  the 
Ancient  Liturgies  and  the  Early  Fathers  to  whose  author- 
ity the  Church  of  England  makes  constant  appeal.  In 
the  Canons  of  1571,  the  Clergy  are  enjoined:  "Never 
teach  aught  in  sermon  to  be  religiously  held  .  .  .  but 
what  is  agreeable  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament,  and  which  the  Catholic  Fathers  and  Ancient 
Bishops  have  collected  from  that  very  doctrine."  The 
Canons  of  1604  repeatedly  recognize  their  authority.  In 
Canon  XXX.  certain  rules  of  doctrine  are  pronounced  true 
"  which  are  consonant  to  the  Word  of  God  and  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Ancient  Fathers."  The  Book  of  Homilies  is 
characterized  by  its  frequent  appeal  to  the  learned  and 
godly  doctors  of  the  Primitive  Church  and  by  expressions 
of  admiration  and  respect  for  the  voice  of  antiquity.  In 
short,  the  appeal  to  antiquity,  a  reliance  on  the  Vincentian 
Canon  {quod  ubique,  quod  semper,  quod  ab  omnibus  creditum 


114  APPENDIX. 

est),^  and  a  strict  adherence  to  the  historical  method  are 
the  keynotes  of  the  Catholic  and  Anglican  position. 

These  Catholic  witnesses  speak  on  this  wise  : 

"  They  ("  the  Docetse,  who  denied  that  our  Lord  had  a 
true  body" — Dr.  Pusey)  abstain  from  Eucharist  and 
prayer  because  they  allow  not  that  the  Eucharist  is  the 
Flesh  of  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  which  Flesh  suffered  for 
our  sins,  and  which  the  Father  of  His  Goodness  raised 
up."  Epistle  of  S.  Ignatius  to  the  Srnyrnceans,  6.  Bp. 
L^htfoofs  Ed. 

"  Be  ye  careful  therefore  to  observe  One  Eucharist 
(for  there  is  One  Flesh  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  One 
Cup  unto  union  in  His  Blood  ;  there  is  One  Altar)."  S. 
Ign.  to  the  Philadelphians,  4.    Bp.  Lightfoot. 

"  For  not  as  common  bread  and  common  drink  do  we 
receive  these ;  but  in  like  manner  as  Jesus  Christ  our 
Saviour,  having  been  made  flesh  by  the  Word  of  God,  had 
both  flesh  and  blood  for  our  salvation,  so  likewise  have 
we  been  taught  that  the  food  which  is  blessed  by  the 
prayer  of  His  word,  and  from  which  our  blood  and  flesh 
by  transmutation  are  nourished  is  the  Flesh  and  Blood  of 
that  Jesus,  who  was  made  flesh."  First  Apol.  of  S.  Justin 
Martyr,  chap.  Ixvi,  Ante-Ntcene  Fathers,  Am.  Reprint, 
vol.  I.,  p.  85. 

"  The  Bread  and  Wine  of  the  Eucharist  before  the 
holy  invocation  of  the  Adorable  Trinity  was  simple 
bread  and  wine,  while  after  the  invocation  the  bread  be- 
comes the  Body  and  the  wine  the  Blood  of  Christ."  S. 
Cyril  Catech.,  Lectures  xix.,  7.  Oxford  Library  of  the 
Fathers,  ii.,  260-1. 

"  Therefore  with  fullest  assurance  let  us  partake  as  of 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ;  for  in  the  figure  of  bread 
is  given  to  thee  His  Body,  and  in  the  figure  of  wine  His 

*  S.  Vine.  Lerin.  Com.,  Caj^.  II. 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  II5 

Blood  ;  that  thou,  by  partaking  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ,  mightest  be  made  of  the  same  body  and  the  same 
blood  with  Him.  For  thus  we  come  to  bear  Christ  in  us, 
because  His  Body  and  Blood  are  diffused  through  our 
members;  thus  it  is  that,  according  to  the  blessed  Peter, 
we  become  partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature."  S.  Cyril 
Cateck.,  Lect,  xxii.,  3. 

And  the  author  of  the  De  Sacramentis  (probably  a 
Bishop  and  disciple  of  S.  Ambrose)  writes:  "How  can 
that  which  is  bread  be  the  Body  of  Christ  ?  By  Consecra- 
tion. And  the  Consecration,  in  whose  words  is  it?  The 
Lord  Jesus.  For  all  the  rest  which  has  been  said  before 
is  said  by  the  priest ;  praises  are  offered  to  God  ;  prayer 
is  made  for  the  people,  for  kings,  for  the  rest.  When  the 
Venerable  Sacrament  is  to  be  consecrated,  the  priest  now 
no  longer  uses  his  own  words,  but  he  uses  the  words  of 
Christ.  So  then,  the  word  of  Christ  consecrates  the  Sac- 
rament. What  is  the  word  of  Christ  .'*  That  by  which 
all  things  were  made.  The  Lord  commanded,  the 
heaven  was  made  ;  the  Lord  commanded,  and  the  earth 
was  made  ;  the  Lord  commanded,  and  the  seas  were  made; 
the  Lord  commanded,  and  all  the  creatures  were  brought 
forth.  Thou  seest,  then,  how  powerful  in  working  is  the 
Word  of  Christ.  If,  then,  there  is  such  power  in  the 
Word  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  those  things  which  were  not 
should  begin  to  be,  how  much  more  is  it  operative  that 
the  things  which  were  should  still  be,  and  de  changed  into 
somethirig  else  !  .  .  .  So,  then,  that  I  may  answer  thee,  it  was 
not  the  Body  of  Christ  before  the  Consecration,  but  after 
the  Consecration  I  say  to  thee  that  now  it  is  the  Body  of 
Christ.  '  He  spake  and  it  was  made ;  He  commanded  and 
it  was  created.'  .  .  .  Before  it  is  consecrated  it  is  bread ; 
when  the  words  of  Christ  are  added,  it  is  the  Body  of 
Christ.    Then  hear  Himself  saying,  *  Take  and  eat  ye  all 


ri6  APPENDIX. 

of  this,  for  this  is  my  Body.'  And  before  the  words  of 
Christ,  it  is  a  cup  full  of  wine  and  water;  when  the  words 
of  Christ  have  operated,  the  Blood  of  Christ  is  caused  to 
be  there,  which  redeemed  His  people."  S.  Ambrose  s 
Works.  Paris,  1686,  etc.,  2  vols,  folio,  id  vol.,  chap,  iv., 
Sect.  14,  15,  16,/.  368/  ckap.  v.,  Sect.  23,/.  370. 

For  a  very  full  summary  of  primitive  testimony  to  the 
Real  Presence  the  reader  is  referred  to  Dr.  Pusey's  noble 
work,  "  The  Doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  from  the 
Fathers,"  Oxford,  1855.  Of  the  overwhelming  mass  of 
evidence  therein  shown,  Dr.  Pusey  says :  "  The  following 
evidence  that  the  belief  in  the  Real  Presence  was  part  of 
the  faith  of  Christians  from  the  first,  is  more  than  enough 
to  convince  one  who  is  willing  to  be  convinced.  .  .  .  The 
English  Church  certainly  believed  that  there  is  a  definite 
testimony  to  the  faith,  plainly  recognizable  in  Christian 
antiquity,  so  that  no  one  who  wished  to  know  the  facts 
could  fail  to  discern  them."     Pp.  316-317. 

Note  VIII. — As  to  the  effect  of  Consecration  and  its 
accomplishment  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  S.  Ire- 
naeus  says : 

"  For  as  the  bread,  which  is  produced  from  the  earth, 
when  it  receives  the  Invocation  of  God,  is  no  longer  com- 
mon bread  but  the  Eucharist,  consisting  of  two  realities, 
earthly  and  heavenly;  so  also  our  bodies,  when  they  re- 
ceive the  Eucharist,  are  no  longer  corruptible,  having  the 
hope  of  the  resurrection  to  eternity."  Against  Heresies, 
bk.  xiv.,  ch.  via.,  5,  Anti-Nic.  Christian  Library,  Edin., 
vol.  v., p.  435. 

And  S.  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  : 

"Then  having  sanctified  ourselves  by  these  spiritual 
hymns,  we  call  upon  the  merciful  God  to  send  forth  His 
Holy  Spirit  upon  the  gifts  lying  before  Him ;  that  He 
may  make  the  bread  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  the  wine 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  1 17 

the  Blood  of  Christ ;  for  whatsoever  the  Holy  Ghost  has 
touched  is  sanctified  and  changed."  Catech.,  Led.  xxiii., 
7  ;  Oxford  Library,  7  ;  //.,  275. 

Saint  Nilus,  a  disciple  of  Saint  Chrysostom,  writes:  "A 
leaf  of  paper  made  of  papyrus  and  size,  is  called  mere 
(i/'fAof)  paper ;  but  when  it  receives  the  signature  of  the 
Emperor,  it  is  (as  is  well  known)  called  sacra;  so  conceive 
with  me  also  of  the  Divine  mysteries,  that  before  the  in- 
tercession of  the  priest  and  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  oblations  are  mere  (4>i?u)v)  bread  and  common 
(kolvov)  wine ;  but  after  those  dread  mvocations  and 
the  coming  of  the  Adorable,  Good,  and  Life-giving  Spirit, 
the  oblations  laid  on  the  Holy  Table,  are  no  more  mere 
(filov)  bread  and  common  {kolvov)  wine,  but  the  precious 
and  immaculate  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  the  God  of 
all."     Migne,  Patrologice  GrcBccz,  torn.  'Jf),  p.  103. 

Saint  Gregory  of  Nyssa  says  in  the  same  way :  "  The 
bread  again  is  thus  far  common  bread,  but  when  the 
mystery  consecrates  it,  it  is  called  and  it  becomes  the  Body 
of  Christ."     Migne,  Patrologice  GrcEC(2,  torn.  46,/.  582. 

Saint  Athanasius  writes:  "Thou  wilt  see  the  Levites 
(Deacons)  bearing  bread  and  a  cup  of  wine  ;  and  so  long 
as  the  supplications  and  prayers  have  not  yet  taken  place 
bare  (fi^og)  is  the  bread  and  cup  ;  but  when  the  great  and 
wonderful  prayers  have  been  completed  over  it,  then  the 
bread  becometh  the  Body  and  the  cup  the  Blood  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.'  Sermo  ad  Baptizat.  "  Quoted  by 
Eutych.  de  Pasch.  in  Card.  Mai  Biblioth.  Nov.  iv.,  62  / 
also  in  Scriptt.  Vett.  Vat.  Coll.,  ix.,  623."  Puseys  Doctrine 
of  Real  Presence  from  the  Fathers,  p.  237. 

The  Ancient  Liturgies  bear  testimony  also  to  the  same 
belief. 

"  Send  down  then  on  us,  and  on  these  loaves,  and  on 
these  cups.  Thy  Holy  Ghost,  that  He  may  sanctify  and 


Il8  APPENDIX. 

perfect  them,  as  God  Almighty.  And  make  this  Bread 
the  Body."     {Liturgy  of  Saint  Mark.) 

In  the  Liturgy  of  Saint  James  the  words  are  :  "  Send 
down  the  same  most  Holy  Ghost,  Lord,  upon  us,  and  upon 
these  holy  and  proposed  gifts,  that  coming  upon  them  with 
His  Holy  and  good  and  glorious  presence.  He  may  hallow 
and  make  this  bread  the  Holy  Body  of  Thy  Christ.  .  .  . 
And  this  cup  the  precious  Blood  of  Thy  Christ."  In  the 
Liturgy  of  Saint  Chrysostom  we  read  :  "And  make  this 
bread  the  precious  Body  of  Thy  Christ  .  .  .  and  that  which 
isinthiscup,  the  precious  Blood  of  Thy  Christ  .  .  .  chang- 
ing them  by  Thy  Holy  Ghost." 

Translations  of  the  Primitive  Liturgies,  Neale  and 
Littledale,  pp.  24,  51,  115. 

Note  IX. — The  difference  between  Catholic  and  Ro- 
man teaching  on  this  subject  does  not  concern  the  Pres- 
ence itself  but  the  mode  or  manner  of  the  presence.  The 
question  is  not  as  to  whether  there  be  a  change,  but 
whether  there  be  such  a  change  that  the  material  substance 
of  the  elements  ceases  to  be. 

Thorndike  writes  in  his  treatise  on  the  Laws  of  the 
Church:  "As  it  is  by  no  means  to  be  denied  that  the  ele- 
ments are  really  changed,  translated,  turned,  and  con- 
verted into  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  .  .  .  yet  is  not 
this  change  destructive  to  the  bodily  substance  of  the  ele- 
ments but  cumulative  of  them,  with  the  Spiritual  grace  of 
Christ's  Body  and  Blood."  Thorndike' s  Works,  vol.  iv., 
p.  82.     Anglo- Cat  ho  lie  Library. 

With  regard  to  our  differences  with  Rome  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Eucharist,  "All  controversy  is  about  the  mode," 
says  the  saintly  Launcelot  Andrewes,  Bishop  of  Winches- 
ter. The  same  views  are  frequently  expressed  by  others 
of  the  Caroline  Divines,  such  as  Bishops  Montague,  Bil- 
son,  Morton,  and  Overall,  the  latter  the  author  of  that 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  II9 

part  of  the  Catechism  which  treats  of  the  Sacraments. 
"Abate us T?ansubstantiation,"  says  Bramhall,  "and  those 
things  which  are  consequents  of  their  determination  of 
the  manner  of  Presence,  and  we  have  no  difference  with 
them  in  this  particular."  Bramhalts  Works,  vol,  iii.,  p. 
165.     Anglo-Catholic  Library. 

"  I  cannot  see  where  there  is  any  real  difference  be- 
twixt us "  (and  the  Church  of  Rome)  "  about  this  Real 
Presence  if  we  would  give  over  the  study  of  contradic- 
tion, and  understand  one  another  right."  Thus  writes 
Bishop  Cosin,  in  his  notes  on  the  book  of  Common  Prayer, 
and  adds,  "  So  have  I  heard  my  Lord  Overall  preach  it  a 
hundred  times."  Anglo-Catholic  Library,  Cosin  s  Works, 
vol.  v.,  p.  155. 

Cosin  also  writes :  "  It  is  confessed  by  all  Divines  that 
upon  the  words  of  Consecration  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ  is  really  substantially  present,  and  so  exhibited  and 
given  to  all  that  receive  it."     Ibid.,  p.  131. 

Laud  in  his  controversy  with  Fisher  agrees  that  there 
is  a  substantial  Presence  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ 
after  Consecration,  but  objects  to  the  word  "  conversion  " 
as  descriptive  of  the  change  which  takes  place.  Vol.  ii., 
p.  322,  Laud's  Works.     Anglo-Catholic  Library. 

Note  X. — The  following  is  from  Appendix  II.,  to  Dr. 
John  Mason  Neale's  "  Translation  of  the  Venerable  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Altar : " 

On  Transubstantiation. 

In  Article  XXVIII.,  the  Church  of  England  says  as 
follows : 

"  Transubstantiation  (or  the  change  of  the  substance 
of  bread  and  wine)  in  the  Supper  of  the  Lord,  cannot  be 
proved  by  Holy  Writ ;  but  is  repugnant  to  the  plain  words 


120  APPENDIX. 

of  Scripture,  overthroweth  the  nature  of  a  Sacrament  and 
hath  given  occasion  to  many  superstitions."  * 
In  this  sentence  we  must  notice  : 

1.  That  not  all  change  whatsoever,  but  the  change  of 
the  substance  of  bread  and  wine  in  the  Eucharist  is  denied. 

2.  That  it  is  denied  on  four  grounds : 

(i.)  Because  it  cannot  be  proved  from  Holy  Writ. 

(ii.)  Because  it  is  opposed  to  the  plain  words  of  Scrip- 
ture. 

(iii.)  Because  it  overthrows  the  nature  of  a  Sacrament. 

(iv.)  Because  it  has  given  occasion  to  many  supersti- 
tions. 

It  is  evident  that  the  entire  meaning  of  this  denial  de- 
pends on  the  signification  of  the  word  "substance  ;  "  this 
word  bears  two  distinct  and  almost  contrary  meanings : 
the  popular  and  the  scholastic. 

1.  The  popular  meaning  of  the  word  is  well  known  to 
all  of  us ;  if  we  see  something  black  of  which  we  do  not 
know  the  name,  we  speak  of  it  as  a  "  black  substance  ; " 
if,  in  like  manner,  we  taste  something  sweet,  we  call  it "  a 
sweet  substance ;  "  by  this  we  mean  "  that  the  thing  which 
we  see  or  taste  is  black  or  sweet ;  "  we  make  no  nice  dis- 
tinction in  our  mind  between  one  part  of  the  "  thing  "  and 
another,  but  by  "  substance"  we  simply  mean  the  whole 
thing  as  it  is  apprehended  by  our  senses. 

2.  Scholastically,  "  substance  "  has  a  very  different 
meaning ;  it  means,  not  the  whole  thing  as  apprehended 
by  our  senses,  but  the  invisible,  inward,  and  secret  power 
or  part  of  the  "  thing,"  the  presence  of  which  is  signified 
by  the  outward  signs,  qualities,  or  properties  of  it ;  these 
outward  signs  are  called  "accidents."  A  thing  maybe 
black,  sweet,  heavy,  cold,  these  are  not  its  "  substance." 
but  its  "  accidents."  The  substance  underlies  them  all,  as 
it  were,  and  makes  the  thing  to  be  what  it  is.     In  this 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  121 

sense  of  the  word  we  can  neither  taste,  touch,  see,  nor 
hear  the  "  substance  "  of  a  thing.;  our  senses  can  appre- 
hend its  "  accidents  "  only. 

It  would  appear  that  in  Article  XXVIII.,  as  quoted 
above,  the  Church  of  England  uses  the  word  "  substance  " 
in  the  first,  or  popular  sense,  and  consequently  means  to 
deny  that  Consecration  effects  any  change  in  the  bread 
and  wine  as  far  as  what  is  cognizable  by  the  senses  is 
concerned ;  and  by  implication  to  assert  that  after  Con- 
secration the  bread  and  wine  remain  in  their  original 
natural  state,  in  so  far  as  they  are  subject  to  the  senses. 
That  is  to  say,  no  change  is  wrought  which  our  senses  are 
miraculously  withheld  from  discerning,  but  the  bread  and 
wine  are  truly  testified  by  our  senses  to  be  such  after  the 
Act  of  Consecration. 

That  this  is  the  meaning  which  substance  is  intended 
to  bear  in  the  quotation  would  seem  to  be  the  case,  when 
it  is  considered  : 

1.  That  the  Articles  were  very  much  directed  against 
popular  errors  (see  quibus  vulgo  dicebatur  in  Art.  XXX.), 
and  therefore  it  is  natural  that  words  should  be  used  more 
in  a  popular  than  a  strictly  scholastic  sense. 

2.  That  the  English  writers  of  the  period  during  which 
the  Articles  were  written  and  moulded  into  their  present 
form,  and  even  subsequently  too,  were  seldom  scholasti- 
cally  exact  in  their  use  of  the  word  "substance."  For 
instance.  Hooker,  one  of  the  most  learned  and  painstak- 
ing of  Anglican  divines,  in  a  well-known  passage,  speak- 
ing of  the  Eucharist,  says  :  "  this  Bread  hath  in  It  more 
then  the  substance  which  our  eyes  behold  "  (Eccles.  Pol., 
b.  v.,  c.  Ixviii.,  12).  It  would  be  nonsense  to  talk  of 
our  eyes  beholding  the  "  substance  "  of  anything  in  the 
strict  scholastic  sense  of  the  word.  But  Hooker  never 
wrote  nonsense,  and  so  it  is  plain  he  uses  the  word  in  the 


122  APPENDIX. 

more  popular  sense,  in  which  it  is  credible  that  it  is  used 
in  the  Anglican  formularies. 

3.  That  only  the  popular  sense  of  the  word  "substance  " 
would  give  force  to  the  four  reasons  for  refusing  to  credit 
a  change  of  "  substance  "  adduced  by  the  Article.  And 
against  the  doctrine  of  a  change  of  "  substance  "  thus  un- 
derstood, the  four  reasons  are  cogent  enough. 

(i.)  No  single  passage  of  Holy  Writ  can  be  quoted  to 
prove  that  the  Eucharistic  Consecration  effects  the  small- 
est change  in  any  natural  quality  of  the  Bread  and  Wine. 

(ii.)  Scripture,  by  speaking  of  the  Consecrated  Sacra- 
ment as  Bread  and  the  Fruit  of  the  Vine  (S.  Mark.  xiv. 
25;  I  Cor.  X.  16,  17;  xi.  26-29),  shows  ^"  "plain  words" 
they  are  still  in  a  true  sense  Bread  and  Wine,  which  they 
would  not  be  had  they  lost  any  of  their  natural  qualities. 

(iii.)  A  Sacrament  must  have  an  outward  and  visible 
part,  and  an  inward  and  invisible  part ;  if  the  truth  of  the 
outward  and  visible  part  of  the  Eucharist  is  destroyed  by 
the  change  of  some  of  the  natural  qualities  of  the  Bread 
and  Wine,  its  perfection  as  a  Sacrament  is  injured. 

(iv.)  Many  revolting  and  superstitious  uses  of  the 
Eucharist  are  recorded,  which  plainly  show  that,  in  the 
minds  of  those  that  practised  them,  the  natural  qualities 
of  the  Bread  and  Wine  had  been  transmuted  into  some- 
thing above  nature. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  "  substance  "  be  understood 
in  the  strict  scholastic  meaning  of  the  word,  it  can  hardly 
be  true  to  say  that  the  Article  forbids  us  to  believe  in  a 
doctrine  of  Transubstantiation,  or  is  directed  against  the 
belief  that  Consecration  changes  the  hidden,  unseen  na- 
ture of  the  Bread  and  Wine. 

I.  Because  the  four  reasons  adduced  do  not  touch 
such  a  doctrine: 

(i.)  Christ  says,  "  This  is  My  Body,"     "This  is  My 


HOL  V  E  UCHA  RIS  T.  1 2  3 

Blood  :  "  the  Bread  and  Wine  of  which  He  spoke  were 
not  His  Body  and  Blood  before  He  gave  the  consecrating 
Word  ;  that  Word,  then,  must  have  in  some  sense  changed 
them  ;  but  it  did  not  change  them  outwardly  or  accident- 
ally; then  it  must  have  changed  them  inwardly  or  substan- 
tially. Transubstantiation,  thus  understood,  can  be  proved 
from  Holy  Writ. 

(ii.)  If  by  Transubstantiation  we  thus  mean  that  the 
outward  parts  of  the  Bread  and  Wine  remain,  in  all  points, 
in  their  original  nature,  while  inwardly,  and  by  a  super- 
natural change,  they  become  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ,  the  doctrine  is  in  no  way  repugnant  to  the  plain 
words  of  Scripture. 

(iii.)  Nor  does  this  doctrine  overthrow  the  nature  of  a 
Sacrament,  for  it  maintains  the  duality  of  the  Sacrament 
in  its  full  integrity. 

(iv.)  Nor  have  any  superstitions  arisen,  as  far  as  is 
known,  from  such  a  belief. 

2.  Because  Transubstantiation,  as  just  explained, 
would  seem  to  be  the  very  doctrine  taught  by  the  Church 
of  England  herself,  in  her  formularies  and  Catechism  : 

The  Church  of  England  teaches  that  in  order  that  the 
Bread  and  Wine  may  becorne  the  Sacrament  of  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ  they  must  be  consecrated  by  a 
Priest ;  the  special  agent  implying  something  special  in 
the  act. 

In  the  Sacrament  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ 
she  teaches  that  there  are  two  things  : 

J  I  An  outward  part  or  sign.  )  ^^^^^  ^^^  ^^^^ 
( Accidents.  ) 

r  An  inward  part  or  thing  ^  g^^^    ^^^     gj^^^     ^^ 
II.  j     signified.  (Christ. 

C  Substance.  ) 


124  APPENDIX. 

That  is : 

In  Prayer-Book  language.  Before  Consecration  there 
is  on  the  Altar  mere  bread  and  wine,  both  as  respects  the 
outward  part  or  sign,  and  the  inward  part  or  thing  signi- 
fied ;  after  Consecration  there  is  still  bread  and  wine  as 
regards  the  outward  part  or  sign,  but  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ  has  become  the  inward  part,  or  thing  signified. 

In  Scholastic  language.  Before  Consecration  there  is 
on  the  Altar  mere  bread  and  wine,  both  accidentally  and 
substantially ;  after  Consecration,  bread  and  wine  acci- 
dentally, the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  substantially. 

Latin  divines,  from  the  mediaeval  age  downwards,  are 
accustomed  to  use  the  word  "substance"  only  in  its  strict 
scholastic  sense.  This  should  always  be  carefully  borne 
in  mind  in  reading  their  works,  or  their  meaning,  when 
they  employ  the  word  either  by  itself,  or  included  in  the 
word  "  Transubstantiation,"  may  be  seriously  miscon- 
ceived." 

Note  XI. — The  Greek  Church  uses  the  term  Transub- 
stantiation, but,  it  would  seem,  in  a  far  less  definite  and 
formal  sense  than  the  Latin  Communion.  Article  XVII., 
"  Of  the  Holy  Eucharist,"  of  the  Council  of  Bethlehem 
(1672)  says :  "  When  we  use  the  word  Transubstantiation, 
we  by  no  means  think  it  explains  the  mode  in  which  the 
bread  and  wine  are  converted  into  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
the  Lord,  for  this  is  altogether  incomprehensible  and  im- 
possible for  any  to  understand  but  God  alone,  and  the  at- 
tempt to  understand  it  can  only  be  the  result  of  irrever- 
ence and  impiety." 

In  notes  on  this  article  in  his  ''History  of  the  Holy 
Eastern  Church,  General,  Ifttroductz'on,"  vo\.  ii.,  pp.  11 73, 
II 74,  Dr.  Neale  says:  "I  quote  from  the  Larger  Russian 
Catechism.  ...  In  the  Exposition  of  the  Faith  by  the 
Eastern  Patriarchs,  it  is  said  that  the  word  Transubstan- 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  125 

tiation  is  not  to  be  taken  to  define  the  manner  in  which 
the  bread  and  wine  are  changed  into  the  Body  and  Blood 
of  our  Lord  :  for  this  none  can  understand  but  God  ;  but 
only  thus  much  is  signified,  that  the  bread  truly,  really, 
and  substantially  becomes  the  very  true  Body  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  wine  the  very  Blood  of  our  Lord." 

"The  Russian  Church  has  evidentlydetermined  to  de- 
cline the  use,  or  the  distinction  of  the  Gvoia  (substance) 
and  the  aviifit^rjKOTa  of  the  bread  and  wine;  which  the 
Council  of  Bethlehem  brought  prominently  forward." 

Note  XIL — Saint  Cyril  of  Jerusalem  says:  "Judge 
not  the  matter  from  the  taste,  but  from  faith  be  fully  as- 
sured without  misgivings  that  thou  hast  been  vouchsafed 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ."  Lecture  xxii.,  section  vi. 
Catechetical  Lectures,  Oxford  Library,  chap.  Hi.,  p.  34. 

And  Bishop  Cosin  tells  us  that  "  Yet  our  faith  does 
not  cause  or  make  that  presence  but  apprehends  it  as 
most  true  and  really  effected  by  the  word  of  Christ.  And 
the  faith  whereby  we  are  said  to  eat  the  Flesh  of  Christ 
is  not  that  only  whereby  we  believe  that  He  died  for  our 
sins  (for  this  faith  is  required  to  suppose  and  precede  the 
sacramental  manducation)  but  more  properly  that  where- 
by we  believe  these  words  of  Christ,  '  This  is  My  Body.'  " 
Anglo-Catholic  Library,  Cosin  s  Works,  vol.  iv.,p.  171. 

Note  XIIL — Instances  of  the  employment  of  Eucha- 
ristic  Doctrine  in  defence  of  the  Incarnation  are  found  in 
the  case  of  the  Nestorian  and  Eutychian  heresies.  The 
former  of  these  divided  the  Person  of  Christ.  With  the 
opponents  of  this  error,  "Since  their  object  was  to  prove 
that  He  who  discharges  the  functions  of  Mediation  in 
His  fleshly  nature  is  personally  identical  with  the  Eternal 
Word,  nothing  was  more  directly  to  the  purpose  than  to 
show  how  this  truth  is  exhibited  in  the  Holy  Eucharist. 
And  therefore  the  writings  of  S.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  and 
of  other  opponents  of  Nestorius,  bring  out  the  truth,  that 


126  APPENDIX. 

the  inward  part  in  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  not  any  fresh 
Body  of  Christ,  but  the  very  same  Body  which  He  took 
of  the  Virgin,  and  which  He  offered  on  the  Cross.  To 
quote  the  words  of  S.  Leo,  the  final  defender  of  the  truth 
of  Our  Lord's  Person  against  both  its  assailants:  'Al- 
though He  be  placed  on  the  Father's  Right  Hand,  yet  in 
safne  Flesh  which  He  took  of  the  Virgin  does  He  carry 
out  the  Sacrament  of  our  Propitiation.'  "  Wilberforce  on 
the  Holy  Eucharist,  ch.  z'x.) 

Of  the  Eutychian  heresy  Bishop  Pearson  says  ("  On  the 
Creed"  Art.  III. :  "  Vain  therefore  was  that  old  conceit 
of  Eutyches,  who  thought  the  union  to  be  made  so  in  the 
natures  that  the  humanity  was  absorbed  and  wholly 
turned  into  the  Divinity,  so  that  by  that  transubstantia- 
tion  the  human  nature  had  no  longer  being.  And  well 
did  the  ancient  Fathers,  who  opposed  this  heresy,  make 
use  of  the  Sacramental  union  between  the  bread  and  wine 
and  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  and  thereby  showed, 
that  the  human  nature  of  Christ  is  no  more  really  con- 
verted into  the  Divinity,  and  so  ceaseth  to  be  the  human 
nature,  than  the  substance  of  the  bread  and  wine  is  really 
converted  into  the  substance  of  the  Body  and  Blood  and 
thereby  ceaseth  to  be  both  bread  and  wine."  Bishop 
Pearson  of  course,  uses  the  word  "substance"  in  the 
popular  sense. 

Note  XI V.— The  doctrine  of  the  Real  Objective  Pres- 
ence would  seem  to  be  but  a  complement  of  the  dogma 
of  the  Incarnation. 

After  consecration  the  elements  are  physically  what 
they  were  before,  but  still  are  changed  into  something 
else.  They  are  no  longer  common  bread  and  wine  but  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  "  under  the  form  of  bread  and 
wine  "  as  the  Homilies  phrase  it. 

"  Saint  Athanasius  urged  that  when  the  Word  became 
flesh  His  unchangeable  Godhead  did  not  change.     He 


HOLY  EUCHARIST.  127 

became  flesh  without  ceasing  to  be  God.  He  veiled  His 
Godhead  under  manhood,  His  Godhead  being  unchanged. 
And  now  He  veils  both  Godhead  and  manhood  under  these 
poor  outward  forms,  the  forms  of  bread  and  wine.  Yet 
these  forms  do  not  therefore  cease  to  be.  The  Word  be- 
came flesh,  yet  was  the  Word  still;  so  now  the  lower  sub- 
stance, the  earthly  part,  the  bread  and  wine  become,  in 
the  language  of  Saint  Ambrose,  Saint  Chrysostom,  Saint 
Athanasius,  Saint  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ  without  therefore  ceasing  to  be,  as  to  the 
outward  part,  bread  and  wine  still." — Pusey,  The  Doctrine 
of  the  Real  Presence  from  the  Fathers,  p.  239. 

And  so  Pearson,  in  his  work  on  the  Creeds,  writes : 
"  As  therefore  all  the  fieraGToixeicjcyi^  of  the  sacramental 
elements  maketh  them  not  cease  to  be  of  the  same  na- 
ture which  before  they  were  ;  so  the  Human  Nature  of 
Christ,  joined  to  the  Divine  loseth  not  the  nature  of  hu- 
manity, but  continueth  with  the  Divinity  as  a  substance 
in  itself  distinct."    Article  III.,  note  91. 

The  following  list  of  books  is  suggested  as  most  use- 
ful for  the  general  reader  on  the  subject  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist : 

Wilberforce  on  the  Holy  Eucharist. 

Wilberforce  on  the  Incarnation.  (These  two  books 
should  be  read  together.) 

Sadler's  Church  Doctrine — Bible  Truth. 

Sadler's  One  Offering. 

Bishop  Hamilton  on  the  Eucharistic  Sacrifice. 

Keble's  Eucharistical  Adoration. 

Pusey  on  the  Real  Presence. 

Pusey's  Doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  from  the 
Fathers. 

Neale  and  Littledale's  Translation  of  Ancient  Litur- 
gies. 

Berdmore  Conyston's  Catholic  Sacrifice. 


Confirmation. 


LECTURE   III. 

THE  VERY  REVEREND  WILFORD  L.  ROBBINS,  D.D. 

Dean  of  All  Saints  Cathedral,  Albany,  N.  Y. 

CONFIRM  A  TION. 

I.  The  doctrine  of  Confirmation  is  doubtless 
accounted,  by  popular  estimate,  one  of  the  less 
difficult  of  the  subjects  which  have  to  do  with  the 
Sacramental  system  of  the  Church. 

The  definition  of  that  doctrine  in  the  author- 
itative formulas  of  the  Church  is  meagre.  An 
office  for  the  administration  of  the  rite  is  pro- 
vided in  the  Prayer  Book,  but  this  office  is  not 
rich  in  doctrinal  suggestiveness.  The  Twenty- 
fifth  Article  refers  incidentally  to  the  subject,  but 
in  terms  which  confuse  quite  as  much  as  they 
enlighten,  and  which  leave  us  with  what  amounts 
to  a  mere  negation.  The  Catechism  says  noth- 
ing of  Confirmation. 

This  silence  naturally  produces  on  many  minds 
the  impression  that  a  subject  thus  passed  over 
cannot,  to  say  the  least,  be  of  prime  importance. 
Meanwhile  the  ritual  connected  with  the  office  is 
of  a  symbolic  type  very  easily  apprehended.     It 


132  CONFIRMATION. 

consists  in  a  solemn  benediction  of  the  children 
of  the  Church  by  their  chief  pastor,  accompanied 
by  a  prayer  that  God  will  strengthen  them  with 
gifts  of  grace  for  their  hard  warfare. 

Here  I  fancy  the  majority  of  Churchmen  rest 
content.  They  do  not  seek  to  penetrate  further 
into  the  mystery  of  the  doctrine,  perhaps  esteem 
that  there  is  no  mystery  to  penetrate.  The  pop- 
ular interpretation  based  upon  this  slender  doc- 
trinal foundation  swings  indeed,  according  to 
the  bent  of  individual  minds,  between  two  rather 
widely  divergent  extremes.  On  the  one  hand  the 
preface  to  the  office  is  taken  as  key-note,  and 
Confirmation  becomes  little  more  than  a  public 
profession  of  faith.  The  act  of  the  child  then 
presented  to  the  Bishop  is  emphasized,  and  God 
has  very  little  to  do  with  the  matter  save  as  He 
must  be  accounted  as  accepting  this  willing 
proffer  of  a  soldier's  service.  The  Bishop's  bene- 
diction is  construed  sentimentally,  it  is  a  most 
becoming  symbol  of  God's  gracious  favor.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  mind  imbued  with  the  sacra- 
mental character  of  the  Church's  life  lays  greater 
stress  on  the  Divine  aspect  of  the  rite.  God 
does  the  confirming,  not  man.  Confirmation  is 
a  distinct  spiritual  crisis  in  life,  thenceforward  the 
soul  is  endued  with  a  fulness  of  spiritual  power 
which  enables  it  to  reach  a  higher  plane  of 
Christain  attainment  than  was    possible   before. 


CONFIRMA  TION.  133 

But  even  so,  the  exact  nature  of  the  gift  be- 
stowed, the  relation  of  Confirmation  to  baptismal 
grace,  its  relative  importance  in  the  Christian 
life,  these  are  questions  which  are  left  to  answer 
themselves  as  best  they  may. 

The  moment  that  one  enters  upon  any  serious 
inquiry,  however,  he  finds  that  the  subject  so  far 
from  being  simple  is  exceedingly  complex,  encom- 
passed with  peculiar  difficulties  whether  it  be  ap- 
proached on  the  historical,  the  ritual,  or  the  doc- 
trinal side.  By  reason  of  the  paucity  of  reference 
in  Anglican  formularies,  we  are  driven  for  infor- 
mation to  Scripture  and  the  testimony  of  the 
primitive  Church,  together  with  the  general  con- 
sensus of  the  Church  Catholic  of  later  ages.  But 
while  the  Scripture  basis  is  plain  so  far  as  it  goes, 
immediately  that  the  rite  emerges  as  an  accepted 
part  of  the  sacramental  system  of  the  early 
Church  in  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,  we  find 
certain  ritual  additions  esteemed  essential  of 
which  there  is  no  trace  in  Scripture.  We  find, 
moreover,  that  the  language  of  the  Fathers  is,  on 
the  surface  at  least,  capable  of  various  construc- 
tions. Often  they  seem  to  attribute  to  Baptism 
what  in  other  passages  they  state  in  no  less  de- 
cided terms  to  be  the  distinctive  grace  of  Con- 
firmation. Moreover,  we  find  that  a  great  change 
has  passed  over  the  use  of  the  Western  Church, 
namely,  the  deferring  of  Confirmation  to  a  time 


134  CON  FIRM  A  TION. 

long  subsequent  to  Baptism,  which  brings  to  the 
front  a  difficult  problem  which  in  this  form  never 
pressed  upon  the  early  Church  for  solution — the 
question,  What  is  the  spiritual  estate  of  a  man 
baptized  but  as  yet  unconfirmed? 

And  lastly,  whatever  Confirmation  may  or 
may  not  be,  if  it  be  a  sacramental  rite  at  all  it  has 
to  do  with  a  gift  of  the  Spirit.  And  here  lies  the 
profoundest  difficulty  in  the  way  of  exact  defi- 
nition of  the  Confirmation  gift.  In  the  course 
of  the  doctrinal  development  of  the  Church  the 
truths  which  have  to  do  more  especially  with  the 
First  and  Second  Persons  of  the  Blessed  Trin- 
ity have  been  explicated  and  defined  with  a  far 
greater  fulness  than  can  be  predicated  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  Spirit.  This  is  partly  due  it  may 
be  to  historic  causes,  but  also  in  great  measure 
we  must  attribute  it  to  the  inherent  difficulty  of 
dogmatic  definition  in  treating  of  the  person  and 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  is  recognized  as 
pre-eminently  in  this  latter  dispensation  "the 
Lord  and  Giver  of  life ;  "  He  is  "  with  the  Father 
and  Son  together  worshipped  and  glorified " ; 
He  "spake  by  the  prophets."  But  though  we  re- 
cognize His  agency  in  all  the  manifold  works  of 
grace  which  abound  within  the  Church,  He  is 
still  like  "  the  wind  that  bloweth  where  it  listeth, 
and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof  but  canst  not 
tell  whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth."    To 


CONFIRM  A  TION.  135 

draw  an  analogy  from  the  spirit  of  man :  here  lies 
the  very  centre  of  personal  existence,  this  is 
nearer  to  us  than  the  breath  we  breathe,  it  is 
ourselves,  and  yet  it  eludes  definition,  its  activ- 
ities transcend  explanation.  Love,  which  is  the 
highest  exercise  of  the  spirit,  the  firmest  rock 
amid  the  shifting  sands  of  human  experience,  is 
yet  essentially  paradoxical  in  its  nature,  the  spirit 
losing  itself  in  another,  only  to  find  its  true  self 
through  the  willing  abandonment  of  self.  The 
illustration  must  not,  of  course,  be  pressed  too  far, 
but  it  surely  should  lead  us  to  recognize  that  we 
may  know  some  things  from  living  experience, 
which  yet  refuse  to  be  bodied  forth  in  language 
strictly  amenable  to  logic. 

II.  The  method  which  naturally  suggests  itself 
in  approaching  the  subject  of  Confirmation  is  to 
begin  with  those  passages  of  Scripture  which 
seem  to  bear  upon  the  apostolic  institution  of  the 
rite. 

In  Acts  viii.  we  read  that,  after  the  death  of 
Stephen,  Philip  went  down  to  Samaria  to  preach 
the  Gospel.  The  preaching  bore  fruit  and  many 
were  converted  and  baptized.  "  Now  when  the 
apostles  which  were  at  Jerusalem  heard  that 
Samaria  had  received  the  Word  of  God,  they  sent 
unto  them  Peter  and  John :  who  when  they  were 
come  down,  prayed  for  them,  that  they  might  re- 
ceive the  Holy  Ghost :  for  as  yet  He  was  fallen 


136  CONFIRM  A  TION. 

Upon  none  of  them :  only  they  were  baptized  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  Then  laid  they  their 
hands  on  them,  and  they  received  the  Holy 
Ghost"  (vs.  14-18). 

Again  in  Acts  xix.  we  read  that  S.  Paul  com- 
ing to  Ephesus  found  certain  disciples  there 
whose  knowledge  in  the  things  pertaining  to  the 
Gospel  was  most  inadequate ;  they  had  not  even 
heard  of  Christian  Baptism,  but  had  received  only 
the  baptism  of  John.  S.  Paul  then  having  in- 
structed them  concerning  the  faith  baptized 
them  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  *'And 
when  Paul  had  laid  his  hands  upon  them,  the 
Holy  Ghost  came  on  them ;  and  they  spake  with 
tongues,  and  prophesied  "  (v.  6). 

One  thing  at  least  is  evident  from  these  pas- 
sages. The  Pentecostal  outpouring  was  not  an 
isolated  event  in  the  history  of  the  Christian 
Church,  a  gift  bestowed  once  for  all.  It  was  not 
merely  the  signal  glory  of  the  founding  of  the 
Church,  but  rather  the  instituting  of  a  ministry 
of  grace  henceforth  committed  to  the  Apostles. 
Again  in  the  light  of  the  two  above-quoted  events 
we  can  hardly  fail  to  make  application  of  S. 
Peter's  words  (Acts  ii.  38),  "  and  ye  shall  receive 
the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  to  the  laying  on  of 
hands.  We  read  :  "Then  Peter  said  unto  them, 
Repent,  and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins, 


CON  FIRM  A  TION.  1 3  7 

and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
For  the  promise  is  unto  you,  and  to  your  children, 
and  to  all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the 
Lord  our  God  shall  call."  The  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  so  explicitly  connected  with  the  laying 
on  of  hands  in  the  later  apostolic  practice  that 
the  words  which  might  otherwise  have  seemed  to 
refer  to  a  fruit  of  the  baptismal  washing  must  be 
regarded  as  signifying  another  and  distinct  gift. 
And  S.  Peter  straightway  adds,  *'  For  the  promise 
is  unto  you  and  to  your  children,  and  to  all  that 
are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God 
shall  call  " — which  precludes  the  limitation  of  the 
gift  to  apostolic  times  alone. 

But  the  locus  classicus  which  gives  fullest  as- 
surance that  this  laying  on  of  hands  is  a  perma- 
nent institution  of  the  Church  is  found  in  Heb. 
vi.  I,  2.  The  writer  of  the  Epistle  has  been  up- 
braiding the  disciples  whom  he  is  addressing  with 
their  feeble  grasp  on  the  fundamental  verities  of 
the  Christian  life.  "  For  when  for  the  time  ye 
ought  to  be  teachers,  ye  have  need  that  one  teach 
you  again  which  be  the  first  principles  of  the 
oracles  of  God ;  and.  are  become  such  as  have 
need  of  milk,  and  not  of  strong  meat"  (v.  12). 
And  then  in  an  enumeration  of  the  first  principles 
of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  he  mentions  three  groups 
of  such  doctrinal  foundations — repentance  and 
faith,  Baptisms  and  the  laying  on  of  hands,  resur- 


138  CON  FIRM  A  TION, 

rection  and  eternal  judgment.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  enter  here  into  the  somewhat  vexed 
question  of  the  use  of  the  plural  '*  baptisms," 
which  is  most  probably  explained  as  referring  to 
the  baptism  of  John  unto  repentance  contrasted 
with  Christian  Baptism.  But  the  point  to  be 
noted  is  the  unhesitating  acceptance  of  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands  as  a  permanent  institution  along 
with  Baptism,  among  the  very  primal  Christian 
doctrines.  Moreover,  the  close  connection  in 
which  it  is  here  placed  with  Baptism  leaves  no 
doubt  that  the  reference  is  to  the  rite  of  Confir- 
mation, rather  than  to  ordinary  benedictions  or  to 
the  laying  on  of  hands  in  ordination,  which  latter 
certainly  would  hardly  thus  have  been  classed 
with  "the  first  principles  of  Christ." 

We  find  then  clear  evidence  in  Scripture  of 
Confirmation,  administered  as  we  may  infer  only 
by  Apostles,  the  matter  of  which  consisted  in 
prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands,  while  the 
inner  grace  is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  That 
this  apostolic  laying  on  of  hands  was  commonly 
accompanied  at  the  first  by  the  display  of  mirac- 
ulous powers  on  the  part. of  the  recipient  can- 
not be  taken  in  the  light  of  S.  Paul's  teaching  as 
differentiating  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  then  and  now 
in  any  material  sense.  The  higher  chrismata 
remain,  though  the  miraculous  evidence  of  the 
Spirit's  indwelling  has  been  withdrawn. 


CON  FIRM  A  TION.  139 

There  is  one  other  passage  in  the  Book  of  the 
Acts  which  brings  out  even  more  strongly  the 
distinction  between  this  gift  of  the  Spirit  and  the 
grace  of  Baptism.  Although  the  normal  method 
for  the  conferring  of  the  gift  is  by  the  laying  on 
of  hands,  God's  grace  is  not  tied  down  to  any  one 
channel.  I  refer  to  the  case  of  Cornelius  re- 
counted in  Acts  X.,  where  we  read  that  while  S. 
Peter  was  yet  speaking  **  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on 
all  them  which  heard  the  Word."  Then  it  is  that 
S.  Peter  exclaims,  ""  Can  any  man  forbid  water, 
that  these  should  not  be  baptized,  which  have 
received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as  we?  And  he 
commanded  them  to  be  baptized  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  "  (vs.  47,  48).  Doubtless  there  is  much 
which  is  very  mysterious  in  this  account.  It  is 
hard  for  us  to  understand  how  those  who  had  not 
as  yet  been  incorporated  into  Christ  by  the  Sac- 
rament of  Baptism  could  receive  the  fulness  of 
the  spiritual  gift.  But  incidentally  we  may 
surely  learn  that  it  is  at  all  times  precarious  to 
set  a  limit  to  the  abounding  activity  of  God's 
grace;  in  this,  as  in  most  matters  theological, 
we  are  on  safer  ground  in  our  affirmations  than 
in  our  negations.  The  point,  however,  which  is 
of  special  interest  to  our  present  inquiry  is  that 
the  gift  of  the  Spirit  did  not  supersede  the  need 
of  Baptism.  There  must  then  be  a  distinctive 
grace  attached  to  each,  the  one  does  not  swallow 


I40  CONFIRMA  TION. 

Up  the  other  as  the  greater  the  less.  The  order 
of  bestowment  may  by  God's  miraculous  dis- 
pensation be  inverted,  both  are  still  necessary  to 
the  perfection  of  Christian  life. 

Bearing  these  plain  statements  of  apostolic 
practice  in  mind,  many  other  passages  become 
clear  in  which  otherwise  we  should  hardly  have 
understood  the  latent  reference.  Such,  for  in- 
stance, are  S.  Paul's  words  in  i  Cor.  xii.  13: 
"  For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into  one 
body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or 
free;  and  were  all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit," 
(R.  V.) — where  the  distinction  and  evident  prog- 
ress marked  by  the  two  phrases  "  baptized  in  the 
Spirit "  and  "  made  to  drink  of  the  Spirit "  cor- 
respond exactly  to  the  varying  movements  of 
grace  in  the  Sacraments  of  Baptism  and  Confir- 
mation. Or  again  in  Gal.  iv.  6,  "  And  because  we 
are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his 
Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba,  Father." — 
where  plainly  the  Sonship  is  the  fruit  of  Baptism, 
while  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  is  subsequent  to  the 
Sonship  and  as  it  were  grounded  upon  the  bap- 
tismal grace. 

When  we  pass  from  the  testimony  of  Scripture 
to  that  of  the  Fathers  we  seem  at  first  to  find 
the  clear  distinction  between  the  grace  conferred 
in  Baptism  and  in  the  laying  on  of  hands  some- 
what obscured.     It  would  be  easy  to  quote  nu- 


CON  FIR  MA  TION.  1 41 

merous  passages  from  S.  Cyprian,  S.  Augustine, 
S.  Jerome,  and  many  others,  which  appear  on  the 
surface  at  least  to  identif  the  giving  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  with  the  baptismal  gift.  But  one  fact  al- 
ready adverted  to  must  be  borne  in  mind  which 
throws  an  entirely  new  light  on  this  language. 
In  the  early  Church,  nay  down  to  the  thirteenth 
century,  and  in  England  probably  later,  Confir- 
mation was  always  administered,  as  it  is  to  this 
day  in  the  Eastern  Church,  either  immediately 
after  Baptism  or  as  soon  as  circumstances  might 
permit.  Thus  Confirmation  was  in  practice  so 
fused  with  Baptism,  that  the  two  were  often  re- 
ferred to  as  though  together  they  constituted  one 
Sacrament.  Not  that  the  distinction  was  ever 
really  forgotten,  but  the  one  was  regarded  as  the 
complement  and  completion  of  the  other.  There 
was,  so  to  speak,  a  rhetorical  and  a  more  doc- 
trinally  exact  use  of  the  word  Baptism.  In  the 
former,  as  including  Confirmation  it  could  be 
spoken  of  as  conferring  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  but  in  the  narrower  use  of  the  term  it  is 
doubtful  if  a  single  passage  can  be  adduced  in 
which  any  Christian  writer  of  the  early  centuries 
attributes  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  in  the  stricter 
sense  to  the  Sacrament  of  regeneration. ""^ 

*  For  the  proof  of  this  assertion,  worked  out  with  great  thorough- 
ness, see  Canon  Mason's  "  Relation  of  Confirmation  to  Baptism," 
passim. 


142  CONFIRMATION. 

The  Eastern  Church,  retaining  as  it  does  the 
primitive  practice  of  administering  Confirmation 
to  infants  immediately  after  Baptism,  seems  like- 
wise to  have  retained  the  primitive  doctrine.  Thus 
the  language  of  Macarius,  the  Bishop  of  Vinnitza, 
in  his  Th^ologie  Dogmatiqiie  Orthodoxe^  sets  forth 
the  doctrine  of  the  Russian  Church  on  the  sub- 
ject in  the  clearest  language  : 

"  The  principal  invisible  effect  of  the  Sacrament  of  Unction 
{i.  e.  Confirmation)  is  to  communicate  to  the  faithful  the  Holy 
Spirit.  In  Baptism  we  are  only  purified  of  all  sin  and  regenerated 
by  the  energizing  {la  vertii)  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  we  are  not  yet 
worthy  of  receiving  this  Spirit  in  us,  and  of  becoming  His  Tem- 
ples ;  by  Unction  He  is  communicated  to  us  with  all  the  gifts  of 
His  grace,  which  are  indispensable  for  the  spiritual  life."* 

Meanwhile  in  the  Roman  Church  a  tendency 
is  evident,  at  any  rate  since  the  Council  of  Trent, 
to  confuse  the  Confirmation  and  baptismal  gifts. 
Following  the  lead  of  S.  Thomas  Aquinas,  the 
language  of  the  Tridentine  Catechism  shows  a 
somewhat  dubious  appreciation  of  the  grace  of 
Confirmation,  and  we  miss  the  clearness  of  state- 
ment which  characterized  the  earlier  theology: 

"  The  difference  which  there  is  in  the  natural  life  between  gen- 
eration and  growth  is  the  same  as  that  between  Baptism,  which 
has  the  effect  of  regenerating,  and  Confirmation,  by  virtue  of 
which  the  faithful  develop,  and  attain  perfect  strength  of  soul. 

*  Quoted  by  Father  Puller  in  his  tract,  "What  is  the  Dis- 
tinctive Grace  of  Confirmation  ?"  p.  35. 


CONFIRMATION.  143 

Besides  inasmuch  as  a  new  and  distinct  kind  of  Sacrament  ought 
to  be  appointed  when  the  soul  incurs  a  new  difficulty,  it  can  easily 
be  seen  that,  as  we  need  the  grace  of  Baptism  for  the  formation 
of  the  mind  by  faith,  so  it  is  exceedingly  profitable  that  souls 
should  be  confirmed  by  another  grace,  in  order  that  they  may  not 
be  deterred  from  the  confession  of  the  true  faith  by  any  danger  or 
dread  of  pains  or  penalties  or  death."  (Cat.  Trid.  Sacr.  Confirm. 
§4.) 

The  language  of  the  Pontifical  of  the  Roman 
Church  in  the  administration  of  Confirmation  is 
still,  of  course,  the  unmistakable  language  of 
Catholic  Christendom,  but  her  popular  theology, 
as  well  as  her  conciliar  explication  of  that  lan- 
guage, both  point  to  a  distinct  lapse  from  the 
earlier  standard. 

Whatever  vagueness  may  have  attached  to  this 
point  at  the  time  of  the  Anglican  Reformation, 
and  however  we  may  regret  that  the  primitive 
doctrine  was  not  more  clearly  emphasized  in  the 
authoritative  teaching  of  our  Prayer  Book,  we 
have  still  to  be  thankful  that  no  phrase  has  crept 
into  our  formularies  which  contravenes  the  truth. 

In  the  baptismal  office  the  activity  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  the  agent  of  regeneration  is  repeatedly 
recognized :  "  Wash  him  and  sanctify  him  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  we  pray.  Again  with  fine  dis- 
crimination the  phrase  runs,  '*  Give  Thy  Holy 
Spirit  to  this  infant,  that  he  may  be  born  again, 
and  be  made  an  heir  of  everlasting  salvation." 
And  after  the  administration  we  thank  God  that 


144  CONFIRMA  TION. 

it  hath  pleased  Him  to  regenerate  the  infant  with 
His  Holy  Spirit.  But  nowhere  is  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  His  proper  Person,  His  indwelling 
in  the  soul  in  the  plentitude  of  His  grace-giving 
attributes,  implied  as  a  resultant  of  the  Sacra- 
ment of  regeneration.^ 

In  the  Confirmation  office  itself  the  lines  of 
the  old  Sarum  use  are  pretty  closely  followed. 
The  Confirmation  prayer  indeed  is  softened  down, 
and  loses  in  clearness  of  statement.  "  Strengthen 
them,  we  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord,  with  the  Holy 
Ghost  the  Comforter,  and  daily  increase  in  them 
Thy  manifold  gifts  of  grace,"  has  not  the  ring  of 
certitude  of  the  old  phrase,  "  Send  upon  them 

*  An  exception  must  perhaps  be  made  of  one  expression  in 
the  form  of  "  Ministration  of  Baptism  to  such  as  are  of  Riper 
Years. "  In  the  exhortation  we  read,  ' '  Doubt  ye  not,  therefore,  but 
earnestly  believe,  that  He  will  favorably  receive  these  present 
persons,  truly  repenting,  and  coming  unto  Him  by  faith  ;  that 
He  will  grant  them  remission  of  their  sins,  and  bestow  upon  them 
the  Holy  Ghost ;  that  He  will  give  them  the  blessing  of  eternal 
life,  and  make  them  partakers  of  His  everlasting  kingdom."  This 
office  was  compiled  in  the  Revision  of  1662,  and  the  carefully 
guarded  wording  of  the  parallel  passages  in  the  Office  for  Infant 
Baptism,  which  connect  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  in  Baptism  specifi- 
cally with  regeneration,  seems  in  this  instance  not  to  have  been 
observed.  It  remains  for  us  simply  to  confess  that  we  have  here 
a  gross  carelessness  of  doctrinal  statement.  We  are  forced  to  do 
a  slight  violence  to  grammar  and  interpret  the  phrase,  in  the  light 
of  the  earlier  form  upon  which  it  is  founded,  as  referring  to  a 
bestowal  of  the  Spirit  to  the  end  that  the  gift  of  eternal  life  may 
be  received,  and  a  share  in  God's  everlasting  kingdom. 


CONFIRMATION.  145 

the  seven-fold  Spirit,  the  Holy  Comforter  from 
Heaven."  Yet  there  is  nothing  in  the  former 
which  can  be  reasonably  said  to  evacuate  the 
prayer  of  its  doctrinal  significance.  And  the 
solemn  words  of  benediction  whereby  the  indi- 
vidual application  of  the  Confirmation  prayer  is 
made  to  each  candidate,  "  Defend,  O  Lord,  this 
Thy  child  with  Thy  heavenly  grace,  that  he  may 
continue  Thine  forever:  and  daily  increase  in 
Thy  Holy  Spirit  more  and  more  until  he  come 
unto  Thy  everlasting  Kingdom,"  while  it  falls 
short  of  the  parallel  prayer  in  the  book  of  1549, 
"  Sign  them,  O  Lord,  and  mark  them  to  be 
Thine  forever  by  the  virtue  of  Thy  Holy  Cross 
and  Passion.  Confirm  and  strengthen  them  with 
the  inward  unction  of  the  Holy  Ghost  mercifully 
unto  everlasting  life,"  followed  by  the  signing  of 
the  candidate  on  the  forehead  with  the  sign  of  the 
Cross  and  benediction  in  the  name  of  the  Trinity, 
is  yet  perfectly  consistent  with  a  fervent  recogni- 
tion of  the  bestowal  of  the  Holy  Ghost  through 
the  laying  on  of  hands. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  there  are 
many  influences  at  work  which  tend  to  becloud 
the  primitive  doctrine  of  Confirmation  in  our 
Communion.  First  of  all  there  is  the  popular 
misconception  which  confuses  Confirmation  with 
the  ratification  of  baptismal  vows.  As  has  been 
well  said,  we  ought  to  have  been  guarded  against 

lO 


146  CON  FIRM  A  TION. 

this  error  by  the  fact  that  by  the  public  catechis- 
ing of  the  children  which  is  ordered  plain  provis- 
ion is  made  for  a  frequent  ratification  of  the 
baptismal  vow.  Every  time  that  a  child  of  the 
Church  responds  to  the  question,  **  Dost  thou  not 
think  that  thou  art  bound  to  believe  and  to  do 
as  thy  sponsors  have  promised  for  thee?  "  ''  Yes, 
verily,  and  by  God's  help  so  I  will,"  he  is  pub- 
licly ratifying  and  confirming  his  vows. 

The  history  of  this  error  is  interesting.  In 
the  first  Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI.  it  was 
ordered  that  no  children  should  be  confirmed 
until  they  should  be  able  to  recite  the  answers  of 
the  Catechism.  The  Catechism  was  printed  in 
this  book  as  a  part  of  the  Confirmation  ofifice, 
and  the  Bishop  was  to  publicly  examine  the  chil- 
dren therein  before  confirming  them.  In  the 
rubric  preceding  the  ofifice  this  order  is  said  to  be 
most  convenient  to  be  observed  because  that  thus 
the  children  may  openly  "  ratify  and  confess " 
the  promises  made  for  them  in  baptism.  In 
the  Prayer  Book  of  1552  the  words  ''ratify  and 
confess  "  were  changed  to  "  ratify  and  confirm," 
apparently,  as  Blunt  says,  "put  of  pure  love  for  a 
synonym."  And  in  our  present  book,  the  pub- 
lic catechising  at  the  time  of  Confirmation  having 
been  dispensed  with,  the  old  rubric  appears  in 
part  as  the  preface  or  initial  address  of  the  ser- 
vice proper.     Thus  we  have,  through  the  original 


CONFIRMATION.  147 

incorporation  of  the  Catechism  with  the  office, 
an  emphasis  laid  on  a  preparatory  rite  which  not 
unnaturally  led  to  its  being  regarded  as  an  es- 
sential part  of  the  service.  A.nd  then  by  a  trick 
of  words,  confess  changed  to  confirm,  an  im- 
pression is  conveyed  to  the  uninstructed  that 
from  this  confirming  of  vows  arose  the  very  name 
Confirmation  of  the  Sacrament  itself. 

It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  word  Con- 
firmation, in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  now  applied, 
is  not  of  primitive  antiquity.  It  is  confined  to 
the  Western  Church,  and  first  appears  in  the 
writings  of  S.  Ambrose.  By  the  time  of  S. 
Gregory  it  seems  to  have  become  thoroughly  es- 
tablished, though  not  to  the  exclusion  of  the 
apostolic  term  of  "  the  laying  on  of  hands,"  ''  the 
sealing,"  and  the  name  most  frequently  em- 
ployed in  the  earlier  Fathers,  and  still  used  by 
the  Eastern  Church,  of  "  Unction "  or  "  the 
Chrism." 

We  may  well  believe  also  that  the  language  of 
Article  XXV.  has  had  much  indirect  influence  in 
^stultifying  a  due  appreciation  of  the  meaning  and 
benefits  of  Confirmation.  The  Article  indeed 
does  not  forbid  the  calling  Confirmation  a  Sacra- 
ment, but  by  placing  it  on  so  distinctly  lower  a 
plane  than  the  "  two  Sacraments  of  the  Gospel," 
(a  phrase  somewhat  difficult  of  interpretation, 
and  at  best  hardly  a  happy  one  as  marking  the 


148  CON  FIRM  A  TION. 

distinguished  dignity  of  the  two  greater  Sacra- 
ments generally  necessary  for  salvation),  it  does 
what  in  it  lies  to  belittle  what  is  plainly  a  grace- 
giving  ordinance  of  apostolic  appointment,  one 
of  the  first  principles  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 

Names  are  of  secondary  importance.  Whether 
we  call  Confirmation  a  Sacrament  or  a  sacra- 
mental ordinance,  makes  comparatively  little 
difference  in  the  abstract.  But  as  an  historic 
fact,  when  the  name  Sacrament  is  denied  to  Con- 
firmation the  drift  is  to  shrink  from  attributing 
to  it  so  unspeakably  glorious  a  gift  as  the  per- 
sonal indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Nor  can  I  think  that  the  true  escape  from  the 
dilemma  lies  in  maintaining  that  Confirmation 
should  be  regarded  as  an  integral  part,  the  mere 
completion,  of  the  Sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism. 
This  line  is  taken  by  some  punctilious  Anglicans 
who  seek  thus  to  compass  loyalty  to  the  Articles 
along  with  the  preservation  of  the  sacramental 
character  of  Confirmation.  But  in  this  view  the 
disciplinary  rule  of  the  Western  Church,  which 
separates  the  two  by  the  interval  of  years,  would 
be  hard  indeed  to  justify.  Nor  is  it  consistent 
with  the  clear  voice  of  the  Church  which  assures 
us  that  by  Baptism  alone  a  man  may  most  surely 
be  saved.  We  are  driven  to  acknowledge  that 
Article  XXV.,  while  wholesome  in  its  tone  as  di- 
rected against  certain  evident  abuses,  has  been  of 


CONFIRMA  TION.  149 

very  doubtful  value  to  the  Church  in  so  far  as  it 
treats  of  Confirmation.  Moreover,  the  extremely- 
awkward  wording  of  the  Article,  which  seems  to 
imply  that  Confirmation  falls  either  under  the 
category  of  "  an  estate  of  life  allowed  in  Scrip- 
ture "  or  else  of  "a  corrupt  following  of  the 
Apostles,"  yet  awaits  a  perfectly  satisfactory  ex- 
planation. The  suggestion  has  been  made  that 
the  phrase  "  a  corrupt  following  of  the  Apostles  " 
may  be  intended  to  cover  that  perversion  of  Con- 
firmation which  identified  the  essential  matter  of 
the  Sacrament  with  unction  rather  than  with 
prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands.  This  is  per- 
haps on  the  whole  the  best  explanation  offered, 
but  even  this  bears  the  stamp  of  an  enforced  in- 
genuity. 

And  lastly,  the  trend  of  Roman  doctrine  has 
had  its  influence  in  confusing  the  mind  of  the 
Church  concerning  the  dignity  and  significance  of 
Confirmation.  The  popular  definition,  that  it  is 
the  Sacrament  of  growth,  misleads  all  the  more 
effectually  because  it  allows  of  a  deep  mystical 
import  being  assigned  to  the  Sacrament  which 
satisfies  minds  that  would  rebel  against  any  ra- 
tionalistic interpretation.  The  phrase  itself  may 
be  capable  of  a  construction  which  shall  not  run 
counter  to  the  witness  of  Scripture  and  Christian 
antiquity.  But  it  obviously  suggests  a  natural 
analogy  which,  if  examined  critically,  is  found  to 


1 50  CONFIRM  A  TION. 

meet  very  imperfectly  the  requirements  of  the 
case.  We  cannot  do  better  than  quote  Canon 
Mason's  comment,  although  he  appears  to  lay  a 
somewhat  undue  stress  perhaps  upon  certain  im- 
plications contained  in  the  name  criticised  : 

"  Growth  in  the  natural  world  is  not  the  result  of  anything 
new  and  adventitious,  except  what  comes  in  the  way  of  support. 
The  life  begun  in  birth  naturally  asserts  itself  in  growth,  if  only 
it  be  sustained  with  proper  food.  No  third  movement,  distinct 
from  generation  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  nutrition  on  the  other, 
needs  to  be  imparted  at  a  given  moment  in  order  to  produce 
growth.  And  certainly  there  is  no  movement  known  by  which 
the  immature  life  can  be  made  to  pass  forthwith  into  maturity, 
from  the  weakness  of  infancy  into  the  strength  of  accomplished 
manhood.  Such  a  passage  is  the  slow  work  of  time.  The  Roman, 
view  of  Confirmation  as  a  Sacrament  of  growth  does  not  suit  the 
symbolism  of  a  Sacrament  given  once  and  once  for  all.  If  Con- 
firmation were  a  Sacrament  given  daily  or  at  frequent  intervals, 
beginning  with  the  Baptism  of  the  infant,  and  ceasing  when  the 
infant  might  be  said  to  have  attained  its  full  spiritual  stature,  then 
Confirmation  might  be  considered  the  Sacrament  of  growth,  but 
not  Confirmation  as  we  understand  it,  administered  without  repeti- 
tion, and  imprinting  upon  the  soul  a  character  which  can  never  be 
effaced.  The  Holy  Eucharist  is  the  Sacrament  which  answers  to 
the  nutriment  by  which  the  spiritual  life  is  sustained  and  de- 
veloped, as  Holy  Baptism  is  that  which  first  initiates  the  life  ;  and 
there  seems  to  be  no  room  in  the  analogy  for  another  Sacrament 
which  is  to  have  the  effect  of  imparting  growth,  least  of  all  for  one 
imparting  a  sudden  growth  from  a  state  of  imperfection  into  one 
of  perfection." 

III.  Among  the  practical  questions  which  con- 
front us  in  our  modern  use  of  Confirmation  the 
most  insistent  is  the  Western  custom  of  separat- 


CON  FIRM  A  TION.  151 

ing  it  completely  from  the  Sacrament  of  Bap- 
tism,  and  postponing  it  until  the  baptized  child 
has  come  to  years  of  discretion.  That  this  is  a 
purely  disciplinary  matter  and  lies  quite  within 
the  power  of  the  Church  to  determine  is  evident; 
it  touches  directly  neither  the  form  nor  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Sacrament.  An  analogy  might  be 
found  in  the  custom  which  prevailed  to  a  large 
extent  in  the  early  Church  of  postponing  Baptism 
until  late  in  life,  in  order  that  the  stains  con- 
tracted by  sin  might  be  washed  away  and  the 
soul  new-born  just  before  its  departure  from  this 
earth  to  Paradise.  We  may  deprecate  this  as 
unwise,  and  think  that  we  can  trace  the  rise  of 
the  custom  to  an  inadequate  grasp  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  nature  and  potency  of  baptismal  for- 
giveness, but  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism  was  not 
in  any  way  vitiated  through  its  undue  postpone- 
ment. So  with  the  modern  postponement  of 
Confirmation,  it  may  be  wise  or  unwise,  that  is  a 
matter  for  practical  inquiry,  but  it  does  not  nec- 
essarily mark  any  doctrinal  divergence  from 
primitive  standards.  Whether  in  its  inception 
the  custom  is  to  be  traced  in  part  at  least,  like 
the  illustration  above  adduced,  to  an  inadequate 
grasp  of  doctrine  is  another  question. 

In  the  Anglican  Communion  there  is  another 
change,  however,  in  the  administration  of  Con- 
firmation which  seems  to  touch  the  matter  of  the 


1 5  2  CON  FIR  MA  TION. 

Sacrament  more  nearly.  The  use  of  Chrism  is  of 
remote,  if  not  apostolic,  antiquity,  and  prevails 
in  all  other  branches  of  the  Catholic  Church 
except  our  own.  It  is  impossible  to  assert  with 
positiveness  that  the  anointing  with  oil  was  a 
part  of  the  rite  of  Confirmation  as  practised  by 
the  Apostles,  but  both  its  symbolic  significance 
and  its  apparently  universal  use  in  the  times  im- 
mediately succeeding  that  of  the  Apostles  would 
lead  us  to  suppose  this  to  have  been  the  case. 
Anointing  would  to  the  mind  of  the  Jew  have 
been  associated  with  some  of  the  most  significant 
ritual  acts  of  the  old  dispensation.  Not  only 
persons  but  things  were  anointed  as  a  symbol  of 
solemn  consecration,  as  Jacob  anointed  the  pil- 
lar and  Moses  the  furniture  of  the  Tabernacle. 
Whether  anointing  was  used  in  setting  apart  the 
prophet  to  his  office  is  doubtful,  but  it  was  always 
the  consecration  act  for  high-priest  and  king. 
The  ritual  of  the  Chrism  rapidly  developed  in  the 
Church,  and  there  soon  came  to  be  various  anoint- 
ings, one  before  Baptism  as  well  as  one  after, 
the  latter  immediately  preceding  the  laying  on 
of  hands.  This  latter  anointing  seems  generally, 
in  the  earliest  time,  like  the  laying  on  of  hands, 
to  have  been  confined  to  the  Bishop,  at  least 
the  anointing  on  the  forehead  with  the  sign  of  the 
cross  was  reserved  to  him.  We  find  traces  very 
early,  moreover,  of  the  Chrism  being  regarded 


CON  FIRM  A  TION.  1 5  3 

as  the  essential  matter  of  the  Sacrament.  And 
after  the  middle  of  the  fourth  century  the  laying 
on  of  hands  as  a  separate  rite  seems  in  the  East 
to  have  fallen  into  abeyance,  while  the  priest  was 
allowed  to  administer  the  unction  with  oil  which 
had  been  consecrated  by  the  Bishop.  The  lay- 
ing on  of  hands  in  the  West  held  its  place  longer, 
though  unction  would  appear  even  as  early  as  S. 
Augustine  to  have  been  regarded  as  of  equal 
importance,  and  quite  as  truly  the  channel  of 
Sacramental  grace. 

While  we  may  regret  that  so  edifying  and 
beautiful  a  ceremony,  and  one  of  such  universal 
acceptance  in  the  Church,  has  fallen  into  disuse 
among  us,  we  are  abundantly  justified  on  the 
ground  of  Scripture  in  regarding  either  prayer  or 
the  laying  on  of  hands,  or  both  combined,  as  the 
essential  matter  of  the  Sacrament.  Having  these 
the  Sacrament  is  certainly  valid,  though  there 
seems  no  sufficient  ground  for  the  omission  of 
the  Chrism. 

The  Anglican  Church  has  received  and  reaf- 
firmed the  Western  use  of  separating  Confirma- 
tion from  Baptism  by  a  space  of  several  years. 
She  has  added  thereto  a  special  emphasis  laid 
upon  the  intelligence  and  faith  requisite  to  the 
most  edifying  reception  of  the  Sacrament.  Her 
traditions  point  to  an  age-limit  rather  older 
than  that  customary  in  the  Roman  Communion. 


154  CONFIRMATION. 

Since  in  this  she  has  traversed  no  Scriptural  or 
Catholic  doctrine  we  are  bound  in  loyalty  to 
yield  obedience.  But  this  attitude  of  the  Church 
lays  upon  us  a  very  special  responsibility.  The 
only  possible  excuse  for  deferring  Confirmation 
to  the  age  of  twelve  or  fourteen  years  is  that  the 
recipient  may  be  so  spiritually  and  intellectually 
prepared  that  he  may  the  more  abundantly  bring 
forth  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  when  the  Spirit  is 
given.  The  preparation  of  candidates  then  be- 
comes of  paramount  importance.  It  is  not  the 
question  whether  the  requisite  repentance  and 
faith  could  be  exercised  by  sponsors  as  in  the  case 
of  Baptism.  Doubtless  they  could.  Primitive 
practice  and  that  of  the  Eastern  Church  to-day 
bear  witness  to  this.  But  since  the  Anglican 
Church  wills  that  in  this  Sacrament  the  individual 
himself  shall  repent  and  believe,  and  orders  that 
such  instruction  shall  be  given  as  shall  enable 
him  to  approach  this  great  spiritual  crisis  with 
mind  and  heart  alert  to  the  responsibilities  in- 
volved, in  the  name  of  sound  reason  let  the 
instruction  be  searching  and  thorough.  If  the 
stories  be  true  which  come  to  us  of  the  customs 
which  prevailed  in  this  regard  not  so  very  long 
ago,  there  has  been  a  marked  awakening  within 
the  last  forty  years.  But  there  is  much  room 
for  improvement  still.  It  is  an  awful  thought 
that  a  child  advanced  enough  in  years  to  have 


CONFIRMA  TION.  155 

fallen  into  habits  of  sin  and  to  have  grown  grossly 
careless  of  spiritual  things  should  be  brought  to 
receive  the  great  gift  with  no  quickened  sense 
of  the  privileges  which  lie  open  to  him,  and  the 
redoubled  heinousness  of  deliberate  rejection. 
The  perfunctory  gathering  of  a  class  for  presen- 
tation to  the  Bishop,  the  unworthy  ambition 
latent  in  the  desire  to  receive  commendation  for 
the  number  rather  than  the  character  of  the  can- 
didates, threatens  dishonor  to  the  Sacrament,  and 
may  mean  lamentable  disaster  to  the  souls  of 
men. 

If  one  seek  for  a  clearer  definition  of  what  is 
meant  by  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  in  Confirmation, 
as  distinguished  from  the  energizing  of  the  Spirit 
in  prevenient  grace,  in  the  new  birth,  and  the 
multiform  activities  of  the  regenerate  life  ante- 
cedent to  Confirmation,  we  may  be  driven  to 
confess  that  amplification  beyond  the  statement 
of  the  fact  is  difficult. 

In  the  New  Testament  record  there  is  the 
mark  of  a  spiritual  crisis  at  Pentecost  inaugurat- 
ing a  new  dispensation.  So  striking  is  the  con- 
trast between  the  old  order  and  the  new,  that  the 
world  could  even  be  said  to  have  been  without 
the  Spirit  before  His  coming  in  the  Pentecostal 
outpouring.  If  the  reading  of  S.  John  vii.  39, 
upheld  by  the  best  manuscript  authorities,  is  to 
be  received,  the  Apostle  uses  a  yet  more  startling 


1 5  6  CON  FIR  MA  TION. 

phrase,  "  for  the  Spirit  was  not  yet,  because  that 
Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified."  Yet  the  world  had 
been  full  of  the  activity  of  the  Spirit  in  prophets 
and  holy  men  from  the  dawn  of  time.  Jesus 
Himself  on  the  night  of  Easter  Day  breathed 
upon  His  disciples  and  said :  "  Receive  ye  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  whosesoever  sins  ye  remit  they  are 
remitted  unto  them,  and  whosesoever  sins  ye 
retain  they  are  retained." 

Read  that  wonderful  last  discourse  of  Jesus 
with  His  disciples  on  the  eve  of  the  Passion,  con- 
tained in  chapters  fourteen  to  eighteen  of  S. 
John's  Gospel.  There  you  will  find  the  best  ex- 
plication of  the  blessing  bestowed  through  the 
personal  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  as  contrasted 
with  the  richest  and  most  abundant  of  His  activ- 
ities exercised  upon  the  soul  of  man  from  "with- 
out "  rather  than  from  "  within,"  if  we  may  adopt 
the  bold  figure  of  speech  which  some  have  ven- 
tured. 

The  contrast  between  the  world  before  and 
after  Pentecost  is,  of  course,  only  used  as  an 
analogy.  All  Christians  live  under  the  blessing 
of  the  new  dispensation,  and  the  very  fruits  of 
the  Baptismal  grace  are  the  outflow  of  the 
Spirit's  abiding  presence  in  the  world.  But  the 
analogy  will  help  us  to  apprehend  how  a  personal 
indwelling  in  the  soul  may  be  distinguished  from 
other  movements  of  grace,  exercised  by  the  same 


CONFIRM  A  TION.  157 

Spirit,  which  bring  the  soul  into  close  and  saving 
union  with  God. 

And  perhaps  a  word  is  necessary  here  in  reply- 
to  the  charge  that  this  magnifying  of  Confirma- 
tion tends  to  obscure  the  pre-eminent  honor  as- 
signed by  the  Church  of  all  ages  to  the  two  Sac- 
raments of  Baptism  and  the  Eucharist.  This 
lecture  is  not  designed  to  plead  a  special  cause, 
but  merely  to  put  before  you  very  briefly  the 
Scriptural  basis  and  an  outline  of  the  history 
of  Confirmation.  Holy  Baptism  which  cleanses 
from  sin  through  incorporation  into  Christ,  and 
which  endows  the  soul  thus  regenerate  with 
grace  to  attain  all  holiness,  must  ever  remain, 
with  the  Blessed  Eucharist,  the  incomparably 
precious  bond  of  the  covenant  of  grace.  But  to 
shrink  from  the  language  of  Scripture  in  defin- 
ing the  grace  of  Confirmation  as  the  gift  of  the 
Spirit,  because  of  an  implied  negation  which 
would  leave,  in  the  words  of  a  recent  writer, 
"  The  majority  of  adults  without  this  blessed 
gift,"  is  a  simple  begging  of  the  question.  The 
more  rational  course  would  be  to  inquire  whether 
the  Church  has  not  been  guilty  of  laxity  in  fail- 
ing to  press  Confirmation  more  strenuously  upon 
all  her  children  as  the  very  perfecting  of  their 
Baptism.  And  there  certainly  is  cause  for  heart- 
searching  in  some  quarters  where  Confirmation 
has  ceased  to  be  regarded,  as  essential,  when  it 


1 5  8  CON  FIRM  A  TION. 

may  be  had,  to  a  participation  in  the  most  sacred 
mysteries  of  the  Lord's  Body  and  Blood. 

In  conclusion  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  however 
admirable  any  analysis  of  the  Spirit's  gifts  may 
be  in  aiding  us  to  apprehend  the  fulness  of  the 
blessing  vouchsafed  through  His  indwelling  pres- 
ence— even  that  old  sevenfold  division  conse- 
crated by  immemorial  usage  in  the  Church  and 
embedded  in  the  very  Confirmation  prayer  itself 
— such  analysis  will  hinder  rather  than  help  if  we 
fail  to  lay  emphasis  on  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
Holy  Ghost  Himself,  not  His  attributes  or  spirit- 
ual powers  merely,  who  is  given  in  Confirmation. 
The  ray  of  sunlight  may  be  broken  up  into  its 
various  constituent  colors  by  the  prism  for  pur- 
poses of  clearer  scientific  apprehension;  analysis 
is  a  useful  process  if  it  does  not  end  in  itself,  but 
to  enjoy  the  beauty  and  receive  the  benefit  we 
must  at  the  last  accept  the  light  as  God  has  given 
it  with  the  hearts  of  children.  And  so  above  all 
other  preparation  for  the  great  gift  of  the  Spirit 
is  the  eager  making  ready  for  a  Heavenly  guest, 
the  breaking  down  of  every  barrier  which  may 
hinder  His  flooding  the  whole  house  of  the  heart 
with  the  gracious  fulness  of  His  own  Divine 
Presence. 


TDol?  ©rbere. 


LECTURE   IV. 

THE   RT.  REV.  ALEX.  CHAS.  GARRETT,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
Bishop  of  Northern  Texas. 

HOLY  ORDERS. 

"  Then  said  Jesus  to  them  again,  Peace  be  unto  you  :  As  my 
Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you. 

"And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  breathed  on  them,  and  saith 
unto  them.  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost:  Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit, 
they  are  remitted  unto  them;  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they 
are  retained." — John  xx.  21-23. 

The  interest  aroused  in  favor  of  Christian  unity- 
has  brought  the  question  of  Holy  Orders  into  fresh 
prominence.  Clear  views  upon  this  subject  are 
essential  to  right  thinking  upon  any  possible 
methods  of  healing  our  *'  unhappy  divisions." 
The  essay  of  the  lamented  Bishop  of  Durham, 
which,  from  the  authority  of  his  great  name,  has 
had  a  vast  influence  in  shaping  the  thought  of 
the  day,  and  the  volume  of  Bampton  Lectures 
by  Dr.  Hatch,  have  both  contributed  to  impress 
a  certain  view  of  the  sacred  ministry  upon  the 
minds  of  reading  men.     No  one  will  deny  to  these 

writers  the  praise  of  rare  scholarship  and    un- 
II 


1 62  HOLY  ORDERS. 

wearied  patience  in  their  search  for  information 
and  collation  of  authorities.  Yet  one  cannot  fail 
to  note  how  often  Lightfoot  is  compelled  to 
modify  his  opening  statement.  He  seems  to  feel 
that  he  has  said  more  than  the  evidence  will  war- 
rant, that  he  is  likely  to  be  misunderstood  if 
taken  literally,  and  that  some  apology  is  neces- 
sary for  the  strength  of  his  language.  These  are 
his  words: 

"  The  kingdom  of  Christ,  not  being  a  kingdom  of  this  world, 
is  not  limited  by  the  restrictions  which  fetter  other  societies, 
political  or  religious.  It  is  in  the  fullest  sense  free,  comprehen- 
sive, universal.  It  displays  this  character,  not  only  in  the  ac- 
ceptance of  all  comers  who  seek  admission,  irrespective  of  race  or 
caste  or  sex,  but  also  in  the  instruction  and  treatment  of  those 
who  are  already  its  members.  It  has  no  sacred  days  or  seasons, 
no  special  sanctuaries,  because  every  time  and  every  place  are 
holy.  Above  all,  it  has  no  sacerdotal  system.  It  interposes  no 
sacrificial  tribe  or  class  between  God  and  man,  by  whose  inter- 
vention alone  God  is  reconciled  and  man  forgiven.  Each  indi- 
vidual member  holds  personal  communion  with  the  Divine  Head. 
To  Him  immediately  he  is  responsible,  from  Him  directly  he 
obtains  pardon  and  draws  strength." — Reprint  Whittaker,  pp.  i,  2. 

As  an  ideal  picture  nothing  could  be  more 
beautiful.  No  one  knew  better  than  the  distin- 
guished writer  that  this  was  only  an  ideal.  For 
this  reason  he  hastens  to  correct  the  evil  likely 
to  ensue  in  a  practical  world,  and  proceeds  as 
follows : 

"It  is  most  important  that  we  should  keep  this  ideal  definitely 
in  view.  .  .  .  Yet  the  broad  statement,  if  allowed  to  stand  alone, 


HOLY  ORDERS,  163 

would  suggest  a  false  impression.  ...  As  appointed  days  and 
set  places  are  indispensable  to  her  efficiency,  so  also  the  Church 
could  not  fulfil  the  purposes  for  which  she  exists  without  rulers 
and  teachers,  without  a  ministry  of  reconciliation — in  short  with- 
out an  order  of  men  who  may  in  some  sense  be  designated  a 
priesthood." — Ibid.,  p.  2. 

From  this  it  is  plain  that  until  the  Militant 
Church  become  the  ideal  a  "  ministry  of  reconcil- 
iation "  is  essential  to  its  existence.  What  may 
be  the  particular  form  of  this  ministry  in  any  age 
is  simply  a  question  of  fact  to  be  determined  by 
evidence.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Hatch,  "  That  for 
the  preservation  of  which  we  have  to  contend  is 
not  so  much  ancient  form  as  historical  continuity  " 
(Bampt.  Lect.,  p.  211). 

The  divine  life  of  the  Church,  and  the  histori- 
cal unity  of  the  present  with  the  past,  are  thus 
conceded  by  those  two  writers  who  have  been 
too  often  quoted  against  them. 

Our  Lord  is  at  once  the  centre  and  exponent 
of  authority.  As  a  focus  He  gathers  all  rays  of 
light  and  life  which  have  ever  been  into  Himself, 
and  from  Him  as  their  centre  they  flow  out  again 
to  the  world.  He  is  the  revealer  of  the  Father, 
and  thus  expresses  to  all  creatures  whatever 
they  may  know  of  the  mysterious  spiritual  Being 
who  made  and  now  sustains  them. 

A  material  universe  gives  knowledge  of  mate- 
rial laws,  or  rather  of  the  sequences  which  intelli- 


1 64  HOLY  ORDERS. 

gence  may  observe  therein ;  but  spiritual  things 
are  spiritually  discerned. 

I.  Our  Lord  appears  as  one  sent — *'As  My 
Father  hath  sent  Me,"  as  one  having  authority 
derived,  not  from  the  dignity  of  His  person,  but 
from  God,  the  author  of  His  mission — "A  Body 
hast  Thou  prepared  Me;  Lo,  I  come  to  do  Thy 
will,  O  God ;  "  to  do  the  works  which  God  had 
given  Him  to  do,  whatever  they  might  be.  The 
point  to  be  observed  just  here  is,  that  the  author- 
ity by  which  those  works  of  teaching,  of  power, 
or  of  mercy  are  done  is  an  authority  derived  from 
the  mission  He  is  sent  to  fulfil,  is  official  rather 
than  personal.  While  in  the  manner  of  its  ex- 
ercise it  is  impossible  to  avoid  finding  the  power 
of  His  divine  personality,  the  authority  itself  is 
the  gift  of  God  conferred  upon  Him  in  His  official 
capacity  as  the  Mediator  of  the  new  covenant. 
It  is  in  this  view  that  it  assumes  importance  as 
the  pattern  of  ministerial  authority.  ''As  My 
Father  hath  sent  Me  " — with  this  authority  to 
teach,  to  serve,  to  suffer,  to  forgive,  to  heal,  to 
send — "  so  send  I  you."  This  gift  bestowed  on 
Me  is  now  bestowed  on  you.  "  Go  ye  into  all 
the  world,  preach,  baptize,  remit  and  retain  sins, 
serve,  suffer,  send  others." 

Thus  the  authority  is  from  above,  not  from 
below,  is  not  the  fruit  of  personal  character  but 
the  adding  to  the  person  of  official  rank. 


HOLY  ORDERS.  165 

2.  But  as  no  one  can  take  this  honor  unto  him- 
self except  he  be  lawfully  called  and  sent,  so  no 
one  can  perform  the  duties  of  any  office  without 
the  special  grace  pertaining  to  that  office.  ''  He 
breathed  on  them,  and  saith  unto  them,  Receive 
ye  the  Holy  Ghost."  Here  is  the  official  em- 
powerment in  the  gift  of  special  grace  as  before 
there  had  been  the  express  bestowal  of  mission 
and  authority. 

It  is  not  intended  to  affirm  that  by  this  means 
all  natural  abilities  are  surrendered  or  the  want 
of  them  supplied ;  still  less  that  all  peculiarities 
of  character  are  set  aside  or  all  deficiencies  in 
moral  discernment  made  good.  The  individual 
instrument  retains  its  special  qualities  of  tone 
while  yet  the  breathing  through  it  is  to  a  sweeter 
tune.     No  doubt  there  may  still  be 

"A  rift  within  the  lute," 

a  flaw  in  morals  or  spiritual  faith, which  may  indeed 

"  Make  all  its  music  mute," 

but  even  then  the  unworthy  recipient  of  minis- 
terial grace  is  nevertheless  set  apart  to  the  Lord's 
service,  and  the  validity  of  his  ministerial  acts 
remains  though  he  have  lost  his  harmony  with 
things  divine. 

In  short  the  authority  and  the  power  to  exer- 
cise it  are  coordinate  and  arise  together  out  of 
the  original  commission. 


t66  holy  orders. 

I.  The  Church  as  the  Body  of  Christ  has  a 
great  office  in  the  economy  of  grace.  She  pos- 
sesses the  common  Hfe  in  which  all  the  members 
share.  They  live  because  she  lives.  Drawing 
her  life  from  Christ  the  head,  those  who  inhere 
in  her  are  one  with  Him.  She  perpetuates  His 
presence  and  dispenses  His  grace  in  the  world. 
As  the  Body  of  Christ  she  is  an  organism  not  an 
organization.  She  may  be  mutilated  but  cannot 
dissolve.  The  germ  planted  once  for  all  in  the 
humanity  of  Christ  continues  to  grow  by  its  own 
laws.  A  common  error  of  the  present  day  is 
found  just  here.  The  Church  is  held  to  be  an 
organization  composed  of  individuals  who  asso- 
ciate themselves  together  for  religious  purposes, 
who  change  their  mode  of  government,  principles 
of  belief,  and  general  form  as  changing  condi- 
tions of  environment  may  suggest.  In  the  words 
of  Dr.  Hatch: 

"  The  history  of  the  organization  of  Christianity  has  been  in 
reality  the  history  of  successive  readjustments  of  form  to  altered 
circumstances." — B.  L.,  213. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  a  similar  compass 
a  more  complete  failure  to  apprehend  the  essence 
of  the  case. 

I.  How  shall  man  know  anything  of  God? 
Force  is  gauged  by  its  effects.  We  measure  gravi- 
tation by  the  work  it  does.  Astronomers  weigh 
the  planets,  calculate  their  orbits  and  velocity  of 


HOLY  ORDERS.  167 

movement,  and  thus  reach  some  idea  of  the 
power  which  sustains  and  drives  them.  But  of 
that  power  itself  we  know  nothing  save  through 
its  manifestation.  This  manifestation  depends 
upon  the  work  to  be  done  and  the  capacity  of  the 
mind  observing.  The  natural  eye  can  range  over 
the  heavens  at  will,  and  gather  much  valuable 
knowledge  of  the  glowing  worlds  which  shine 
there.  This  knowledge  is  real  as  far  as  it  goes, 
but  indefinitely  defective.  The  same  eye  looking 
through  a  large  telescope  finds  its  field  narrowed 
indeed,  but  how  vast  the  added  multitude  of 
worlds!  Nebulae  are  resolved  into  their  compo- 
nent stars;  complexity  in  unity  is  revealed  where 
simplicity  alone  had  been  expected;  and  vast 
fields  of  ether  utterly  unknown  to  our  fathers  are 
laid  open  before  us.  The  power  needed  to  wield 
all  these  suns  and  systems  is  seen  to  be  immeas- 
urably greater  than  was  before  supposed.  The 
greatness  of  the  work  grows  upon  us  with  grow- 
ing knowledge,  and  we  judge  of  the  power  doing 
it  accordingly.  The  argument  from  design  as 
usually  presented  has  failed  because  the  indefinite 
has  been  confounded  with  the  infinite.  It  will 
forever  remain  true  that  the  "heavens  declare 
the  glory  of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth 
His  handiwork,"  that  the  "  invisible  things  of 
Him  are  clearly  seen  being  understood  by  the 
things  that  are  made,  even   His  eternal  power 


l68  HOLY  ORDERS. 

and  Godhead."  But  it  is  also  becoming  more  ap- 
parent every  day  that  the  measures  by  which  we 
have  estimated  these  manifestations  of  Deity  are 
so  very  defective  that  our  conclusions  have  been 
erroneous.  We  have  not  been  able  to  estimate 
them  at  their  proper  value;  but  this  can  never 
overthrow  the  manifestations  themselves,  how- 
ever it  may  make  us  desire  a  better  interpreter  of 
them. 

And  if  in  presence  of  these  facts  of  the  physi- 
cal universe  we  feel  our  insufficiency  as  readers 
of  their  hidden  meaning,  the  case  becomes  more 
difficult  when  we  attempt  the  consideration  of 
the  graver  problems  presented  in  the  sphere  of 
morals.  Here  will  and  conscience  add  their 
special  difficulties  to  those  of  the  understanding. 
Feeling  and  sensibility  also  demand  recognition, 
and  require  an  explanation  both  of  their  origin 
and  destiny.  Sin,  the  most  appalling  fact  of 
human  experience,  wrings  the  cry  of  misery  from 
the  soul,  but  finds  neither  exposition  of  its  origin 
nor  remedy  for  its  effects  in  nature.  It  is  plain 
that  reasoning  based  on  natural  phenomena  and 
human  experience  can  carry  us  but  a  little  way 
toward  the  throne  of  God.  True,  the  structure 
of  the  human  mind,  the  laws  of  thought,  the  voice 
of  conscience,  the  power  of  will — all  lead  us  up 
to  God  in  '*  Whom  we  live,  and  move,  and  have 
our  being;  "  yet  we  are  all  painfully  conscious  of 


HOLY  ORDERS.  169 

the  limitations  of  this  knowledge  and  of  the  in- 
adequacy of  our  niost  elevated  conceptions.  We 
feel  the  truth  of  the  words,  ''  No  man  knoweth 
the  Son  but  the  Father;  neither  knoweth  any 
man  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whom- 
soever the  Son  will  reveal  Him  "  (Matt.  xi.  27). 
The  need  of  some  other  agent  than  mere  nature 
can  supply  presses  upon  us  with  every  advance 
of  knowledge.  We  "  cannot  by  searching  find 
out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection  "  by  any  use 
of  natural  methods.  On  the  other  hand  it  is 
equally  true  that  methods  of  revelation  must  lie 
within  the  plane  of  human  faculties,  however  far 
beyond  they  may  point  and  lead  us.  We  cannot 
take  cold  immensity  by  the  hand,  nor  rest  our 
breaking  hearts  upon  the  infinite,  nor  soothe  our 
fainting  souls  by  the  contemplation  of  force. 
Would  we  know  that  "God  is  love,"  it  is  not  in 
the  glowing  sunshine  nor  the  silver  moonlight 
that  we  shall  learn  it,  but  in  the  "  face  of  Jesus 
Christ." 

The  Humanity  of  Christ  is  the  vehicle  for  the 
conveyance  to  humanity  at  large  of  that  wider 
knowledge  of  God  for  which  the  race  has  always 
longed,  but  which  it  has  failed  to  attain  by  all 
the  efforts  of  philosophers  and  men  of  science. 

Christ  having  ascended  and  passed  through 
the  heavens  has  left  the  **  Church  which  is  His 
Body "  as   His  agent   and   representative   upon 


lyo  HOLY  ORDERS. 

earth.  Because  He  lives  the  Body  lives.  Each 
member  of  the  Body  shares  the  common  life,  and 
lives  because  of  its  inherence  in  the  Body.  The 
unity  arises  from  participation  in  the  life  of  the 
organism.  The  common  life  is  the  source  of  all 
abilities  and  powers.  Flowing  directly  from 
Christ  the  head,  but  only  through  channels  di- 
vinely appointed  for  its  conveyance,  it  brings  to 
all  the  world  the  revelation  of  knowledge  and 
love  not  otherwise  to  be  obtained. 

It  is  thus  plainly  seen  to  be  the  office  of  the 
Church  to  teach;  to  make  known  to  mankind  the 
supernatural  facts  of  which  she  is  at  once  the 
witness  and  exponent;  to  foretell  the  future  as 
she  records  the  past ;  and  to  make  known  from 
age  to  age  the  ever-opening  purposes  of  God. 
She  is  the  guardian  of  a  definite  faith  which  it  is 
her  office  in  the  world  both  to  preserve  and  pro- 
claim. Having  received  the  "  lively  oracles  "  she 
is  their  custodian  and  interpreter.  The  '^  faith 
once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints"  is  an  ascer- 
tainable deposit  of  truth  of  which  she  is  the  wit- 
ness and  keeper. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  she  is  a  living 
Body  ever  weaving  into  the  present  not  only  the 
precious  things  of  the  past,  but  assimilating  also 
all  new  developments.  With  prevision  of  the 
future  maturing  latent  powers  for  the  work  to  be 
accomplished    later.     Adhering    always    to   the 


HOLY  ORDERS,  171 

primitive  type,  but  unfolding  in  each  successive 
age  such  qualities  of  special  adaptation  as  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  condition  of  mankind  may 
demand.  Not  binding  herself  in  the  inelastic 
bandages  of  the  dead,  nor  forcing  her  people  into 
a  rigid  conformity  to  some  outgrown  models,  but 
rather  showing  to  every  age  the  matchless  power 
of  her  life  by  her  wondrous  revelation  of  hidden 
truth.  There  is  movement  everywhere,  for  all 
with  which  she  has  to  do  is  living.  Alive  herself 
with  the  imperishable  life  of  her  Divine  head  she 
enshrines  a  living  faith  and  preaches  a  living  Gos- 
pel. Her  creeds  are  not  merely  dead  symbols  of 
a  buried  age,  but  filled  with  the  life  of  God.  Her 
Sacraments  and  various  ministries  of  grace  are 
not  only  memorials  of  great  events  in  the  history 
of  her  life,  but  agencies  by  which  those  great 
events  are  made  to  live  again  until  the  world's 
end.  She  is  thus  a  living  teacher  meeting  the 
requirements  of  successive  generations  by  the 
growing  talents  with  which  she  is  endowed. 

2.  But  man  needs  far  more  than  to  be  as- 
sured by  a  voice  he  can  understand  that  "  God  is 
love;  "  he  must  be  informed  also  how  that  fact 
can  help  him.  He  feels  separated  from  God  by 
the  insuperable  barrier  of  sin.  In  his  calm  mo- 
ments when  conscience  is  allowed  to  work  with- 
out intimidation,  he  knows  himself  to  be  both 
responsible  and  guilty.     The  sense  of  ill-desert 


172  HOLY  ORDERS. 

cannot  be  removed  by  any  process  known  to  him. 
The  history  of  religion  is  little  more  than  the 
history  of  human  effort  to  escape  from  this  terri- 
ble sense  of  ill-desert.  The  sacrifices  of  appease- 
ment offered  on  all  the  altars  of  the  world  are 
the  proof  of  this  statement.  But  the  terrible 
truth  remains — ''  It  is  not  possible  that  the  blood 
of  bulls  and  of  goats  should  take  away  sins " 
(Heb.  X.  4).  How,  then,  shall  they  be  removed? 
The  Incarnation  is  the  only  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion. The  Humanity  becomes  the  vehicle  of  re- 
demption. The  High  Priest  presents  the  sacri- 
fice of  perpetual  efficacy.  "  Lo,  I  come  to  do 
Thy  will,  O  God.  By  the  which  will  we  are 
sanctified  through  the  offering  of  the  Body  of 
Jesus  Christ,  once  for  all "  (Heb.  x.  9,  10). 

Here  the  priestly  office  of  the  Church  comes 
plainly  into  view.  The  eternal  sacrifice  must  be 
continually  presented.  The  healing  virtue  must 
be  applied  to  every  individual  and  to  each  suc- 
ceeding age.  Pardon,  pity,  love,  must  be  minis- 
tered without  ceasing  until  time  shall  be  no  more. 
It  is  the  office  of  the  Church,  as  the  Body  of 
Christ,  to  extend  the  benefits  of  the  Incarnation 
to  succeeding  generations.  For  this  purpose  she 
is  furnished  with  sacramental  media  for  the  con- 
veyance of  life  and  blessing;  by  the  Sacrament 
of  Baptism  imparting  the  gift  of  regenerating 
grace,  by  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar  effecting  its 


HOLY  ORDERS.  173 

renewal  from  day  to  day.  The  Spirit-bearing 
Body  keeps  in  circulation  the  currents  of  life 
flowing  always  from  the  head  to  the  members. 
As  a  whole  she  perpetuates  the  redeeming  work 
of  Christ,  not  by  repeating  it,  but  by  applying  its 
manifold  agencies  of  help  to  those  in  need. 
**  Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead,  dieth  no 
more."  He  now  appears  as  our  great  High 
Priest  in  the  heavenly  sanctuary  to  plead  there 
the  efficacy  of  His  sacrifice,  where  "  He  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us,"  while  the 
Church,  representing  Him  on  earth,  offers  con- 
tinually the  memorial  of  that  ''sacrifice,"  applies 
to  the  souls  of  men  the  efficacy  of  that  "  inter- 
cession," by  remitting  the  sins  of  penitents,  lift- 
ing up  the  fallen,  restoring  the  lost,  and  comfort- 
ing those  that  mourn.  With  human  sympathies, 
through  human  means  of  grace  she  keeps  in 
touch  with  human  needs,  takes  into  herself  our 
griefs  and  pains,  and  heals  the  gaping  wounds 
which  sin  has  made  by  the  ministration  of  Divine 
remedies.  This  Divine  organism  preserves  the 
Divine  life  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  this  lower  world 
for  the  healing  of  mankind.  Incorporated  into 
this  Body  we  are  incorporated  into  Him  who  is 
the  head  of  the  Body,  and  thus  obtain  the  bene- 
fit of  all  Christ's  redemptive  work.  "  Buried  with 
Him  by  baptism"  we  are  with  Him  also  "  raised  " 
into  "newness  of  life,"  and  "made  to  sit  together 


174  HOLY  ORDERS. 

in  heavenly  places."  The  Church  Is  thus  seen  to 
be  the  mediating  agent  througli  whom  all  priestly 
benefits  obtained  by  the  "  one  Mediator  between 
God  and  men  "  are  made  available  for  the  relief 
of  human  needs. 

3.  But  wide  as  is  the  area  over  which  the  phil- 
osophy of  religion  aided  by  the  light  of  Revela- 
tion carries  the  mind,  and  deep  and  profound  as 
are  the  issues  of  life  affected  by  the  priestly  work 
of  the  eternal  sacrifice,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  both  of  these  are  but  preliminary  steps  to 
the  high  prerogatives  of  royalty,  to  a  share  in 
which  the  King  of  Kings  invites  those  who  are  to 
be  ''  heirs  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ." 
It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the  sublimity 
and  importance  of  the  words  of  Christ  as  recorded 
in  the  closing  lines  of  St.  Matthew's  Gospel: 

"  All  power  is  given  unto  Me  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  Go  ye 
therefore  and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  :  Teaching  them 
to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you  ;  and, 
lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." — 
Matt,  xxviii.  18-20. 

This  high  prerogative  of  royal  power  for  the 
government  of  all  nations  is  the  most  majestic 
claim  ever  pronounced  by  human  lips.  Nothing 
short  of  the  Divine  right  to  its  exercise  as  the 
Mediatorial  King  could  possibly  justify  such  lan- 
guage.    Lips  merely  human  would  have  withered 


HOLY  ORDERS.  175 

in  the  utterance.  Government  is  doubtless  the 
greatest  work  of  God.  Building  a  whole  universe 
of  worlds  and  flashing  them  into  space  to  wheel 
in  measured  order  obedient  to  the  laws  of  motion 
and  gravitation  has  not  been  found  as  difficult  in 
fact  as  the  guiding  of  free  intelligence  in  a  single 
pair  created  with  the  dread  possession  of  liberty. 
The  principles  which  govern  dead  material  things 
or  shape  new  forms  of  chemical  combination,  or 
develop  new  results  in  the  flora  and  fauna  of  suc- 
ceeding ages,  will  be  found  of  little  force  in  di- 
recting the  human  will  to  choose  the  more  remote 
good  of  righteous  action  rather  than  the  gratifica- 
tion of  present  pleasure.  The  stern  discipline  of 
conscience  sustained  by  repeated  intimations  of 
the  penalty  inseparable  from  moral  delinquency 
will  be  found  in  fact  all  too  weak  to  restrain  the 
soul  from  following  the  line  of  least  resistance  in 
pursuit  of  present  enjoyment,  though  well  as- 
sured both  of  the  guilt  and  sorrow  which  must 
inevitably  ensue. 

The  government  of  free  moral  beings,  who, 
from  the  complexity  of  their  nature,  are  capable 
of  good  and  evil,  is  therefore  a  much  higher 
science  than  marshalling  the  suns  and  systems  of 
the  visible  heavens. 

To  bring  such  beings  to  a  condition  of  stable 
equilibrium  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  liberty  in 
accordance  with  the  eternal  law  of  righteousness 


176  HOLY  ORDERS. 

is  the  purpose  for  which  the  Mediatorial  Kingdom 
has  been  estabhshed.  *'A  sceptre  of  righteous- 
ness "  is  the  sceptre  of  this  King.  To  teach  man- 
kind the  principles  of  righteousness,  to  bestow 
upon  mankind  such  gifts  of  grace  as  may  secure 
the  triumph  of  such  principles,  and  to  raise  man- 
kind to  the  power  and  glory  which  are  the  im- 
perishable birthright  of  those  who  reign  in 
righteousness,  is  the  sublime  object  for  which 
the  "Word  was  made  Flesh" — for  which  **  He 
endured  the  Cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  is 
set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God  " 
(Heb.  xii.  2). 

Here  again,  the  office  of  the  Church  as  the 
"  Body  of  Christ  "  becomes  conspicuously  appar- 
ent. Her  very  purpose  in  the  world  is  both  to 
teach  and  empower  men  to  govern  themselves  by 
the  law  of  righteousness.  Engrafted  into  her  by 
Baptism  men  are  "brought  up  in  the  nurture  and 
admonition  of  the  Lord  ;  "  are  taught  in  all  sacred 
learning;  trained  in  all  holy  ways;  and  "  made 
kings  and  priests  unto  our  God."  "  Beloved,  now 
are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth  not  yet 
appear  what  we  shall  be ;  but  we  know  that  when 
He  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him;  for  we 
shall  see  Him  as  He  is  "  (i  John  iii.  2).  The 
words  of  S.  Peter  seem  to  glow  with  the  radiance 
of  the  eternal  day  :  ''  But  ye  are  a  chosen  genera- 
tion, a  royal  priesthood,  an  holy  nation,  a  peculiar 


HOLY  ORDERS.  177 

people  "  (i  Pet.  ii.  9).  These  are  the  high  prero- 
gatives of  the  '*  Body  "  in  its  organic  unity.  The 
peculiar  honors  of  the  Divine  Head  are  also  the 
honors  of  those  who  share  His  life  and  love. 
The  Kingdom  of  God  among  men  extends  by 
the  agency  of  men.  But  the  principle  of  govern- 
ment descends  from  above  and  is  distributed  from 
the  Head  to  the  members.  The  living  Church 
holds  the  power  as  a  delegation  from  above,  not 
as  an  evolution  from  below.  The  Divine  Hu- 
manity is  the  channel  for  its  conveyance  through 
such  media  as  have  been  Divinely  appointed  for 
the  purpose.  The  practical  dominion  of  right- 
eousness over  the  nations  of  the  earth  is  slowly 
effected  as  the  Church  brings  the  power  of  re- 
deeming love  to  bear  upon  the  national  conscience 
in  each  succeeding  age.  This  she  accomplishes 
by  Christian  education,  organized  charities,  be- 
nevolent associations,  and  the  multiplied  agencies 
she  has  been  commissioned  to  employ  for  sancti- 
fying the  civilization  of  the  world.  The  govern- 
ment of  her  King — the  government  of  truth  and 
righteousness — it  is  her  high  mission  to  establish 
in  the  hearts  of  all  her  members  until  ''the  king- 
doms of  this  world  shall  become  the  kingdoms 
of  the  Lord  and  of  His  Christ." 

Thus  the  threefold  ofifice  of  the  Church  as  the 
Spirit-bearing  Body  of  Christ  for  the  salvation  of 
mankind  stands  out  boldly  before  us.     The  pillar 
12 


17.8  HOLY  ORDERS. 

and  ground  of  the  truth,  the  treasury  of  pardon 
and  healing  grace,  and  the  kingdom  of  righteous- 
ness, she  represents  Christ  in  the  world,  *'  till  we 
all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith  and  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God  unto  a  perfect 
man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fulness  of  Christ  "  (Eph.  iv.  13). 

II.  The  Ministry  is  the  organ  for  the  perform- 
ance of  these  corporate  functions. 

I.  As  in  the  body  of  a  man  there  are  many 
members,  all  sharing  the  common  life,  yet  all 
have  not  the  same  office,  so  also  is  the  Church. 
The  eye,  the  ear,  and  other  organs  of  the  body 
live  because  the  body  lives,  die  when  the  body 
dies,  yet  they  do  not  derive  their  special  designa- 
tion as  organs  from  the  common  life  but  from 
the  original  Source  of  all  life,  who  hath  fashioned 
them  according  to  the  counsel  of  His  own  will. 
Should  the  eye  be  born  blind  the  body  is  wholly 
blind,  nor  can  all  the  life  of  the  body,  though 
vigorous  in  every  other  orp-an,  give  sensibility  to 
the  eye.  The  organ  of  sight  is  necessary  to 
vision.  Destroy  it  by  accident  or  disease  and  the 
power  of  vision  is  destroyed  with  it. 

Our  Lord  "glorified  not  Himself  to  be  made 
an  high  priest,"  but  was  *'  called  of  God,  as  was 
Aaron  "  (Heb.  v.  4,  5).  He,  in  turn,  "  ordained 
twelve  that  they  should  be  with  Him,  whom  He 
called  Apostles,"  and  "  appointed  other  seventy 


HOLY  ORDERS.  179 

also  that  they  should  go  into  every  city  and  place 
whither  He  Himself  would  come ;  "  and  later,  He 
more  specifically  commissioned  and  appointed 
those  whom  He  had  called  and  chosen  that  they 
should  "go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature."  On  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost, the  Holy  Ghost  having  descended  and 
fully  empowered  those  before  appointed,  they 
began  to  execute  the  high  functions  to  which 
they  had  been  appointed.  Here  the  infant 
organism  is  seen  in  its  first  attempts  at  organic 
development. 

{a)  Its  life  is  a  derived  life,  flowing  directly 
from  Heaven  through  the  "  power  from  on  high  " 
which  had  been  promised.  It  flows  through 
veins  and  arteries  prepared  beforehand  to  receive 
it.  It  finds  organs  divinely  constituted  to  pre- 
serve and  perpetuate  it  in  the  world.  It  does 
not  create,  develop,  or  evolve  the  ministerial 
organ— that  has  been  already  ordained  by  ex- 
ternal power  and  authority,  and  is  waiting  ex- 
pectant for  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise. 

{b)  The  life  of  the  "  Body  "  is  our  life.  The 
Apostles  on  the  morning  of  that  memorable  day, 
and  the  "  three  thousand  "  baptized  converts  who 
were  "  added  unto  them  "  before  the  setting  of 
the  sun,  all  shared  the  same  life,  all  felt  the  throb 
of  a  common  pulse,  all  lived  because  Christ  lived 
and  they  had  been  incorporated  into  Him.     This 


l8o  HOLY   ORDERS. 

life  is  not  the  aggregate  of  the  individuals  who 
on  that  morning  or  evening  constituted  the 
"Body;"  it  is  the  life  of  the  Body  as  such 
whether  the  individuals  incoporated  be  many  or 
few.  The  life  is  not  diminished  though  many  be 
cut  off,  nor  increased  though  a  "  multitude  which 
no  man  can  number  "  stand  before  the  throne. 
The  members  live  because  they  inhere  in  the 
Body,  the  Body  lives  because  it  is  the  Body  of 
Christ. 

{c)  Every  organ  of  the  Body  is  also  a  member 
of  Christ,  but  every  member  is  not  an  organ.  No 
one  can  be  ordained  to  any  holy  function  who 
has  not  first  been  made  a  partaker  of  the  life  of 
Christ  by  Holy  Baptism.  But  participation  in 
the  grace  of  sanctification  does  not  involve 
participation  in  the  grace  of  Orders.  Every 
nerve  and  muscle  shares  the  common  life,  but  this 
does  not  constitute  the  one  the  organ  of  vision 
nor  assign  to  the  other  the  duty  to  smooth  or 
contract  the  brow.  The  Church  is  an  organic 
whole  which  grows  according  to  its  own  laws 
which  were  impressed  upon  its  germinal  cell  as 
first  planted  in  the  world  by  the  Lord  Himself. 
The  members  cannot  change  this  original  consti- 
tution any  more  than  the  hand  can  say  to  the 
head,  I  have  no  need  of  thee.  The  constitution 
is  of  the  very  life  of  the  organism.  To  change 
it  would  be  to  change  the  organism  itself,  and  set 


HOLY  ORDERS.  i8i 

up  some  new  thing  in  the  world  quite  other  than 
that  of  which  our  Lord  is  the  Head  and  Life. 

It  has  now  become  fashionable  to  dwell  upon 
the  priestly  and  royal  powers  of  the  Body  as  a 
whole,  as  though  these  could  enable  us  to  dispense 
altogether  with  the  sacred  ministry  as  composed 
of  a  body  of  men  chosen  out  of  the  aggregate  of 
members  and  set  apart  to  their  holy  functions  by 
Apostolic  commission  and  authority.  As  well 
afifirm  that  the  diffused  sensibility  of  the  nervous 
system  will  enable  us  to  see  without  eyes  or  hear 
without  ears. 

IIL  As  a  matter  of  simple  historical  fact  the 
Church  has  never  existed  without  a  ministry  of 
Divine  appointment. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  our  Lord  Himself 
was  "  called  of  God,"  and  also  definitely  set  apart 
by  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  work  of  His  very 
awful  ministry,  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God 
with  power  by  His  resurrection  from  the  dead, 
and  proclaimed  by  the  Divine  Voice  as  the 
"  Beloved  Son,"  glorified  in  the  past  and  to  be 
glorified  again  in  the  near  future. 

He  having  been  thus  solemnly  ordained,  con- 
secrated, and  sent,  with  similar  solemnity  selects, 
calls,  ordains,  and  sends  His  apostles  with  definite 
mission  and  authority  and  official  empowerment 
to  send  others  as  He  had  sent  them,  to  preach, 
baptize,  remit  and  retain  sins;  and,  in  a  word,  to 


i82  HOLY  ORDERS. 

act  as  the  Divinely  constituted  organs  of  His 
Humanity  for  the  founding  and  perpetuation  of 
His  Kingdom  *'  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

The  germ  thus  planted  soons  begins  to  grow, 
and  as  it  grows  unfolds  its  hidden  powers  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  its  being.  The  law  is  im-- 
pressed  upon  it  at  the  outset  and  is  inherent  in 
its  original  constitution. 

How  shall  we  ascertain  the  constitution  of  a 
grain  of  wheat  ?  By  careful  observation  of  its 
method  of  growth — "  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear, 
after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  It  would  be 
childish  and  absurd  to  look  for  this  last  first. 
Nor  is  the  result  produced  by  environment  or 
the  conditions  in  which  the  grain  is  placed.  If 
the  conditions  be  unfavorable  the  plant  may  die 
or  grow  only  with  a  sickly  and  fruitless  life;  but 
if  it  live  and  grow  at  all  it  must  follow  the 
original  law  of  its  being;  and  j:he  successive  ap- 
pearance of  each  part  in  its  season  and  time  is 
absolute  proof  of  the  original  law,  and  illustrates 
its  nature.  Now  the  method  of  evolution  of  the 
sacred  ministry  has  been  traced  so  often  by  men 
of  the  greatest  learning  that  it  must  be  quite  un- 
necessary to  repeat  it  here. 

The  ordination  by  apostolic  laying  on  of  hands 
of  the  seven  Deacons  after  their  popular  election  ; 
the  ordaining  at  a  later  period,  also  by  apostolic 
imposition  of  hands,  of  elders  or  Presbyters  in 


HOLY  ORDERS.  183 

every  city,  are  positive  proof  of  the  nature  of  the 
law  by  which  the  growth  and  fruitfulness  of  the 
Church  were  governed.  It  is  the  law  of  develop- 
ment through  the  agency  of  human  instruments 
contained  in  the  Divine  commission,  "As  My 
Father  hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you."  And 
when  the  Apostles  make  provision  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  their  office  by  the  appointment  and 
ordination,  by  imposition  of  apostolic  hands,  of 
men  to  represent  them  and  who  were  to  ''  commit  " 
to  others  the  sacred  authority  thus  intrusted  to 
them,  a  farther  proof  is  given  of  the  true  nature 
of  the  original  law  for  the  propagation  of  the 
Church  in  the  world.  Timothy,  Titus,  Epaphro- 
ditus,  and  many  others  are  conspicuous  cases  in 
point.  Now  to  affirm  that  this  method  of  growth 
was  the  result  of  an  effort  to  copy  the  synagogue 
among  Jewish  converts,  and  the  assemblies 
common  among  the  heathen  by  Gentile  converts 
(as  Lightfoot  and  Hatch  do  everywhere),  is  equiv- 
alent to  the  affirmation  that  organisms  grow  by 
imitation  rather  than  assimilation.  The  wheat 
draws  into  itself  the  substances  necessary  to  its 
growth,  and  by  assimilation  converts  them  into 
silicate,  gluten,  starch,  and  whatever  else  its  life 
law  enables  it  to  produce;  but  it  does  not  copy 
or  merely  absorb  by  imitation  what  it  finds. 
The  calla  lily  and  the  rose  growing  side  by  side 
draw  their  nourishment  from  the  same  air  and 


1 84  HOLY  ORDERS. 

sun  and  soil,  but  each  follows  the  law  of  its  own 
life  in  the  use  it  makes  of  it — a  law  not  derived 
from  its  environment  but  inherent  in  itself. 

Whatever  men  may  have  found  useful  in  any 
age  for  the  government  of  assemblies  or  religious 
societies  the  Church  may  or  may  not  have  adopted, 
because  human  nature  is  very  much  the  same 
in  every  age  and  country;  but  the  thing  thus 
adopted  is  speedily  changed  in  quality  and  use, 
having  a  new  life  imparted  to  it  by  which  its 
nature  and  work  are  elevated  and  spiritualized. 
The  same  thing  is  illustrated  in  the  literature 
which  Christianity  has  inspired.  Such  words  as 
"grace,"  "faith,"  "virtue,"  "humility,"  "love," 
existed  in  human  speech  before  Christ  was  born. 
Our  Lord  found  them  ready  for  His  purpose, 
poured  into  them  the  power  of  His  own  life,  re- 
produced them  full  of  a  heavenly  sound  and 
sweetness  before  unknown;  and  they  live  to-day 
as  the  sufficient  evidence  of  the  source  and  quality 
of  the  life  which  they  have  been  consecrated  to 
express. 

The  names  most  familiar  to  us  by  which  we 
designate  those  ordained  to  any  holy  function 
were  in  use  before  Christianity  adopted  them; 
but  the  question  is,  not  whether  they  existed  in 
human  use,  but  whether  they  have  been  adopted 
by  Divine  appointment;  not  whether  they  have 
been  copied,  but  whether  they  have  been  conse- 


HOLY  ORDERS.  185 

crated  to  specific  uses  in  the  Body  of  Christ.  On 
this  point  there  cannot  be  any  room  for  contro- 
versy if  only  men  are  willing  to  be  governed  by 
Holy  Scripture  and  history. 

{a)  The  Deacons  were  originally  appointed  to 
minister  in  alms  and  charities  under  the  direction 
of  their  superiors,  to  preach  upon  occasion,  and 
baptize  those  converted.  There  their  powers 
ended.  S.  Stephen,  the  first  martyr,  is  the  chief 
illustration  of  the  preaching  Deacon,  and  S. 
Philip  appears  in  the  wider  range,  both  preaching 
and  baptizing.  Though  his  ministry  was  accom- 
panied by  special  wonders  and  mighty  works, 
yet  his  ministerial  powers  were  limited.  ''When 
the  Apostles  and  elders  at  Jerusalem  heard  that 
Samaria  had  received  the  Word  of  God,  they 
sent  unto  them  Peter  and  John,"  to  whom  the 
higher  function  of  "laying  on  of  hands"  be- 
longed. The  limitation  of  the  power  of  Deacons, 
thus  plainly  shown  even  in  the  case  of  those 
otherwise  specially  endowed,  has  never  been 
seriously  called  in  question. 

{U)  As  the  Apostles  travelled  about  preaching 
the  Gospel  and  making  converts,  they  ordained 
Presbyters  in  every  city,  intrusting  to  them  the 
higher  authority,  not  only  to  preach  and  baptize 
as  the  Deacons  could,  but  to  minister  also  in 
the  more  awful  responsibility  of  the  remission  of 
sins  and  the  spiritual  feeding  of  the  people  in  the 


1 86  HOLY  ORDERS. 

Blessed  Sacrament  of  the  Altar.  Subject  to  the 
order  of  the  Apostles  who  had  ordained  them, 
they  governed  the  infant  churches  with  such 
delegated  powers  as  they  were  authorized  to  use. 
Here,  then,  were  three  distinct  orders  in  the 
sacred  ministry.  As  there  had  been  the  High 
Priest,  Priests,  and  Levites  among  the  Jews,  so 
here,  first  our  Lord,  the  twelve,  and  the  seventy, 
then,  after  the  Ascension,  Apostles,  Presbyters, 
and  Deacons.  The  trinity  of  sacred  ofifices  has 
so  far  been  preserved.  Was  it  departed  from 
later  and  a  new  thing  under  the  sun  of  two  orders 
introduced  ?  Let  him  produce  the  proof  who 
can,  for  it  is  still  "  evident  unto  all  men  diligently 
reading  Holy  Scripture  and  ancient  authors,  that 
from  the  Apostles'  time  there  have  been  these 
orders  of  ministers  in  Christ's  Church — Bishops, 
Priests,  and  Deacons  "  (Preface  to  the  Ordinal). 
Some,  indeed,  being  anxious  to  escape  from  this 
conclusion,  have  been  bold  enough  to  affirm  that 
the  Apostles  dying  left  no  successors,  and  that 
therefore  the  threefold  cord  was  broken  and  the 
ministry  in  two  orders  alone  survived  ;  that  the 
Presbyters,  thus  left  without  a  head,  fell  to  quar- 
relling among  themselves,  and  were  compelled  to 
choose  one  to  preside,  and  so  maintain  order. 
This  position  was  advanced  at  the  time  of  the 
Reformation,  and  has  lately  been  reproduced  with 
all  the  weight  which  the  Bampton  lecturer.  Dr. 


HOLY  ORDERS.  187 

Hatch,  and  the  far  greater  Dr.  Lightfoot,  could 
give  it.  Here  I  must  quote  the  words  of  the  now- 
far-famed  S.  Jerome,  which  have  attained  much 
wider  range  than  that  somewhat  sour  foe  of 
Bishops  ever  dreamed  of.  The  passage  is  found 
in  the  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  Titus, 
chapter  i. 

''  Before  there  were  factions  in  religion,  and  the 
people  began  to  say,  I  am  of  Paul,  I  of  Apollos, 
and  I  of  Cephas,  the  churches  were  governed  by 
the  common  advice  of  the  Presbyters.  But  when 
every  man  thought  those  whom  he  had  baptized 
to  be  his  own,  and  not  Christ's,  it  was  decreed 
in  the  whole  world  that  one  chosen  out  of  the 
Presbyters  should  be  set  above  the  rest,  to  whom 
all  the  care  of  the  Church  should  appertain,  and 
the  seeds  of  division  rooted  out."  The  ''decree," 
aforesaid,  has  never  been  produced,  but  let  that 
pass.  S.  Jerome  then  proceeds  to  show  how  the 
words  "  Bishop  "  and  "  Presbyter  "  were  used  in- 
terchangeably in  these  early  days,  and  builds  his 
argument  for  their  identity  upon  the  familiaf 
passages  in  which  they  occur  together  {cf.  Phil, 
i.  I,  Acts  XX.  28),  and  concludes :  '*  These  things  I 
bring  to  show  that  anciently  Presbyters  were  all 
one  with  Bishops;  and  that  in  tract  of  time,  to 
pluck  up  the  roots  of  dissension,  all  the  charge 
of  the  Church  was  committed  to  one  "  {Ibid.). 

The  question  of  real  moment  here  is,  at  what 


1 88  HOLY  ORDERS. 

time  this  radical  change  was  made,  and  by  what 
authority?  If  the  purpose  of  it  were  to  stop  the 
growth  of  schisms  it  was  not  long  before  it  was 
called  for.  Schisms  and  divisions  grew  even  in 
the  Apostles'  times,  as  appears  from  the  Epistles 
of  S.  Paul.  Wherefore  these  words  of  S.  Je- 
rome, interpret  them  as  we  may,  do  not  afifirm 
that  Presbyters  ruled  the  Church  after  the  Apos- 
tles' time.  Whatever  powers  they  exercised 
were  held  subject  to  apostolic  direction. 

Now,  since  the  Apostles  in  natural  course  could 
not  live  always,  the  necessity  was  plain  that  they 
should  commit  to  others  such  powers  as  were 
necessary  for  the  perpetual  government  of  Christ's 
Church.  These  powers  may  be  summarized 
briefly,  as  the  power  to  preach  the  word  and  min- 
ister the  Sacraments,  the  right  use  of  the  keys, 
and  the  imposition  of  hands  for  the  continuance 
of  the  ministry  in  the  world. 

To  quote  the  words  of  Bishop  Bilson  (*'  The 
Perpetual  Government  of  Christ  Church"): 

"  The  Apostles,  both  in  teaching  and  governing  the  churches, 
when  they  were  present  had  helpers  ;  when  they  were  absent  had 
substitutes  ;  after  their  final  departures  or  deaths  left  successors." 
— Bilson,  p.  277.  Again  on  the  next  page  :  "It  may  not  be 
denied  but  as  the  word  and  sacraments  are  the  most  essential 
seeds  of  the  Church,  so  the  handling  and  sowing  thereof  in  the 
Lord's  ground  must  be  the  general  and  principal  charge  of  all 
pastors  and  presbyters  that  either  feed  or  rule  the  flock  of  Christ. 
.  .  .  Wherefore  in  preaching  the  word  and  ministering  the  sacra- 


HOLY  ORDERS.  189 

ments,   the  scriptures   know  no  difference  betwixt  pastors  and 
teachers,  bishops  and  presbyters." 

(c)  The  powers  of  discipline  and  government 
must  also  remain  forever  in  the  Church.  The 
question  now  is  to  whom  these  powers  were  com- 
mitted, whether  equally  to  Bishops  and  Presby- 
ters or  to  Bishops  only. 

The  power  of  discipline  was  committed  to  the 
Apostles  in  the  memorable  words  spoken  to  S. 
Peter  :  *'  I  will  give  thee  the  keys  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Heaven:  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on 
earth  shall  be  bound  in  Heaven:  and  whatsoever 
thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in 
Heaven  "  (Matt.  xvi.  19).  And  on  another  oc- 
casion is  extended  to  all  the  Apostles  :  "  Receive 
ye  the  Holy  Ghost :  Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit, 
they  are  remitted  unto  them ;  and  whosesoever 
sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained  "  (John  xx.  22, 
23).  This  power  was  held  and  exercised  by  the 
Apostles  after  our  Lord's  Ascension.  It  was 
never  intrusted  to  the  Presbyters,  but  was  always 
used,  as  most  conspicuously  at  Corinth,  under 
the  direction  of  the  Apostles.  In  due  time  this 
specific  power  of  discipline  was  given  to  Timothy, 
Titus,  and  others  by  apostolic  appointment,  and 
with  definite  directions  as  to  the  place  and  sphere 
of  its  exercise.  Another  mark  by  which  Bishops 
were  distinguished  from  Presbyters  in  the  Apos- 
tles' time  is  singularity.     Presbyters  were  many, 


190  HOLY  ORDERS. 

Bishops  one  in  a  city  over  the  many  Presbyters. 
To  quote  Bishop  Bilson  again : 

"  This  singularity  of  one  pastor  in  each  place  descended  from 
the  Apostles  and  their  scholars  in  all  the  famous  churches  of  the 
world  by  a  perpetual  chain  of  succession,  and  doth  to  this  day 
continue,  but  where  abomination  or  desolation,  I  mean  heresy  or 
violence,  interrupt  it.  Of  this  there  is  so  perfect  record  in  all 
the  stories  and  fathers  of  the  Church,  that  I  much  muse  with 
what  face  men  that  have  any  taste  of  learning  can  deny  the  voca- 
tion of  Bishops  came  from  the  Apostles.  For  if  their  succession 
be  apostolic,  their  function  cannot  choose  but  be  likewise 
apostolic  ;  and  that  they  succeeded  the  Apostles  and  Evangelists 
in  their  churches  and  chairs  may  inevitably  be  proved,  if  any 
Christian  persons  or  churches  deserve  to  be  credited." — pp.  319, 
320. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  illustrious 
example  of  S.  James  as  the  first  Bishop  of  Jeru- 
salem and  president  of  the  first  council,  of 
which  the  record  is  preserved  in  Acts  xv. ;  of  S. 
Timothy,  who  was  placed  over  the  Church  at 
Ephesus  with  specific  superiority  over  all  other 
officers;  of  S.Titus,  who  was  similarly  appointed 
to  Crete  with  a  definite  authority  over  all  he 
found  there. 

The  third  distinctive  mark  by  which  the  Bishop 
was  separated  from  Presbyters,  even  in  the  Apos- 
tles' days,  is  the  power  of  ordination. 

Those  recent  writers  before  referred  to  who 
have  made  so  much  use  of  S.  Jerome  seem  to 
have  forgotten  how  the  saint  when  writing  to 
Evagrius  corrects  the  over-strong  statement  al- 


HOLY  ORDERS.  191 

ready  quoted  from  his  commentary  on  Titus. 
Like  Bishop  Lightfoot  he  expressed  himself  in 
terms  which  he  found  it  necessary  to  modify.  He 
is  indeed  anxious  to  impress  upon  his  correspond- 
ent how  much  he  thinks  of  Presbyters,  to  which 
order  he  himself  belonged,  and  how  little  of 
Bishops,  to  whose  rank  he  had  not  attained. 
These  are  his  words :  "  What  doth  a  Bishop,  save 
ordination,  which  a  Presbyter  may  not  do  ?  "  (Ad 
Evag.  cii.).  Now  those  words  of  Jerome — excepta 
ordinatione — are  sufficient  to  end  the  whole  con- 
troversy with  those  who  take  him  for  their  oracle. 
Here  it  is  conceded  by  this  mighty  champion, 
that  in  whatever  other  respects  he  and  his  order 
had  no  superiors,  they  had  in  this — they  could 
not  ordain  Presbyters  and  Deacons;  and  there- 
fore the  Church  must  die  with  them  if  there  had 
been  no  Bishops  with  apostolic  authority  to  send 
others  as  they  had  been  themselves  sent. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  cite  again  the  cases 
of  Ss.  Timothy  and  Titus,  to  whom  this  special 
charge  and  power  were  given — to  "ordain  Elders 
in  every  city,"  and  to  "  set  in  order  the  things 
that  are  wanting."  It  would  also  weary  were  we 
to  produce  again  the  countless  passages  which 
have  been  collated  from  the  fathers  to  illustrate 
this  same  fundamental  verity  of  the  order  and 
polity  of  the  Church. 

The  Historic  Episcopate  may  be  conceded  to 


192  HOLY  ORDERS. 

be  a  "  growth  "  without  drawing  with  it  any  of 
the  consequences  which  recent  writers  have  en- 
deavored to  deduce.  As  a  matter  of  simple  his- 
torical fact  the  Church  has  never  existed  with- 
out the  three  Orders  since  our  Lord  imparted 
His  Divine  Life  to  it,  and  defined  the  law  of  its 
growth  and  development  in  the  world — which  law 
revealed  its  nature  when  the  Apostles  began  to 
exercise  their  functions  after  the  Day  of  Pentecost. 

1.  There  always  have  been  those  to  whom  the 
elementary  and  preparatory  work  has  been  given, 
in  whom  tenderness  and  sympathy,  as  shown  in 
the  ministries  of  charity,  were  particularly  re- 
quired, and  whose  duty  it  was  to  report  to  those 
who  had  sent  them  the  condition  of  the  work 
they  had  in  hand. 

2.  There  have  always  been  those  to  whom 
higher  functions  were  assigned,  who  were  ad- 
mitted to  closer  relation  with  our  Lord,  to  whom 
profounder  mysteries  were  intrusted  in  offering 
the  memorial  sacrifice  and  proclaiming  with 
authority  the  remission  of  sins;  whose  "lips 
should  keep  knowledge  "  that  they  might  be  able 
to  "  instruct  the  ignorant  and  them  that  are  out 
of  the  way ;  "  whose  should  be  the  spiritual  eye  to 
see  the  Heavenly  vision,  the  spiritual  ear  to  hear 
the  Word  of  the  Lord,  and  the  spiritual  tongue 
to  *' preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor  and  to  pro- 
claim the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord." 


HOLY  ORDERS.  1 93 

3.  There  have  always  been  in  the  Church,  by- 
whatever  name  distinguished,  those  who  possessed 
all  the  powers  of  the  two  orders  just  enumerated 
but  to  whom  was  also  given  by  express  Divine 
appointment  other  exclusive  powers,  never  at  any 
time  possessed  by  the  Presbyters  and  Deacons, 
and  therefore  quite  impossible  to  be  derived  from 
them — powers  the  most  important  of  which 
were  the  "  keys,"  for  the  ultimate  discipline  of 
offenders,  and  ""  imposition  of  hands "  for  the 
ordaining  and  consecrating  of  Bishops,  Priests, 
and  Deacons  for  the  propagation  of  the  Church 
in  the  world  until  time  shall  be  no  more. 

By  these  "  the  whole  Body  fitly  joined  together 
and  compacted  by  that  which  every  joint  sup- 
plieth,  according  to  the  effectual  working  in  the 
measure  of  every  part,  maketh  increase  of  the 
Body  unto  the  edifying  of  itself  in  love  "  (Eph. 
iv.  16). 

4.  The  Ministry  being  the  Divinely  commis- 
sioned organ  of  the  Body  for  the  performance  of 
the  functions  of  the  Body  has  its  own  functions 
thereby  defined. 

(i)  The  Church  Militant  must  ever  continue  a 
teaching  Church.  Her  prophetical  office  cannot 
become  obsolete  until  her  Lord  return  in  power 
and  great  glory.  The  message  to  every  succeed- 
ing age  is  her  message;  the  "hope  of  the  high 
calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus"  is  her  hope;  the 
13 


194  HOLY  ORDERS. 

*'  love  "  of  "  His  appearing  "  is  her  love.  To  make 
mankind  know  and  feel  these  mighty  powers  of 
the  world  to  come  is  her  great  business  in  the 
world.  It  is  the  solemn  duty  and  lofty  privilege 
of  every  member  of  the  Body  in  "  his  vocation 
and  ministry,"  both  to  illustrate  in  his  own  life 
and  impress  upon  others  by  precept  and  example, 
these  facts  of  the  Church's  life  and  faith  and 
hope.  On  this  it  is  not  possible  to  lay  too  much 
stress.  Here  indeed  is  a  wide  sphere  of  useful- 
ness where  the  Laity  may  do  most  excellent  Avork, 
and  exercise  a  power  for  good  quite  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  clergy.  Nevertheless  the  Church 
has  a  teaching  "  organ,"  an  inspired  tongue,  dis- 
tinctively commissioned  and  appointed  to  "teach 
all  nations,"  to  "  publish  the  glad  tidings  of  good 
things,"  to  "  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature." 
This  order  of  men  is  set  apart  to  give  themselves 
wholly  to  the  "ministry  of  the  Word,"  to  bend 
all  their  powers  that  way,  to  qualify  themselves 
by  prayer  and  study  of  Divine  things  to  receive 
and  convey  to  others  the  message  they  have  been 
authorized  to  deliver.  I  say  *'  authorized  to  de- 
liver "  advisedly,  because  the  ministers  of  the 
Word  are  "  heralds  "  and  "  ambassadors  "  to  pro- 
claim terms  of  pardon  and  reconciliation,  to  an- 
nounce coming  penalties  which  are  surely  to 
overtake  the  disobedient,  and  glorious  blessings 
which  await  those  who  shall  be  found  "  meet  for 


HOLY  ORDERS.  195 

the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light."  This  is  a 
matter  of  authority  and  official  empowerment. 
There  are  many  of  the  Laity  possessing  gifts  of 
knowledge  and  sanctification  at  whose  feet  the 
clergy  would  gladly  sit  and  learn  in  all  humility, 
but  the  word  of  a  "  prophet  "  and  "  ambassador  " 
is  not  dependent  upon  his  personal  merits  but 
upon  his  official  appointment.  He  represents 
Christ,  as  the  organ  of  the  Body  specifically  des- 
ignated for  the  purpose,  and  can  neither  devolve 
upon  another,  nor  suffer  another  to  assume  (with- 
out due  official  empowerment  in  regular  order), 
the  functions  he  has  been  ordained  to  discharge. 

Of  course  we  are  not  ignorant  of  the  difficul- 
ties (for  others)  involved  in  this  view.  But  the 
question  is  not,  What  complications  have  re- 
sulted in  the  lapse  of  time  from  the  passions 
and  prejudices  of  men?  but.  What  is  the  function 
of  the  sacred  ministry  by  Divine  appointment? 
Here  also  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  inquire  what 
powers  of  compensation  the  Body  itself  may 
have  whereby  organic  deficiency  in  any  part  may 
not  indeed  be  supplied,  but  in  some  sense  dis- 
pensed with  by  increased  vitality  elsewhere.  A 
nice  question,  ably  handled  by  many  writers  of 
note,  but  lying  outside  the  compass  of  this  lec- 
ture. 

(2)  It  is  difficult  to  understand  what  Lightfoot 
and  Hatch  hope  to  gain  by  dwelling  upon  the 


196  HOLY  ORDERS. 

hieratical  quality  of  the  priesthood  of  the  Laity, 
but  denying  any  similar  significance  to  that  of  the 
clergy.  Whatever  quality  of  priesthood  belongs 
to  the  Body  as  a  whole  cannot  possibly  be  taken 
away  from  those  who  are  the  organs  of  the  Body 
for  the  performance  of  its  priestly  functions. 
Whatever  power  of  vision  the  body  has  cannot 
surely  be  taken  away  from  the  eye,  which  is  the 
organ  of  vision.  Certainly  the  eye  cannot  see 
unless  it  inhere  in  a  body  with  nerve  ganglia 
sensitive  to  light.  And,  doubtless,  there  could  be 
no  clerical  priesthood  unless  there  were  a  Body 
with  priestly  functions  to  be  performed,  of  which 
the  ministry  is  the  priestly  organ. 

But  what  is  the  quality  in  sacrifice  which  gives 
it  value?  Is  it  the  pain  and  nervous  horror  of 
the  quivering  victim?  Is  it  the  crimson  gore 
poured  out  at  the  foot  of  the  altar?  These  things 
are  valueless  as  purchase-money  before  the  throne 
of  God.  Their  value  lay  in  their  spiritual  signifi- 
cance. They  pointed  away  from  themselves  to 
the  *'  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  They  were  symbols  and  shadows  to 
raise  the  soul  of  the  ignorant  worshipper  to  the 
contemplation  of  heavenly  things. 

And  when  we  stand,  reverently  with  bowed 
heads,  before  the  tragedy  of  the  Cross,  wherein 
lies  its  efificacy?  Is  it  in  the  torn  muscles  and 
lacerated  nerves,  the  drops  from  the  sacred  Head 


HOLY  ORDERS.  1 97 

responsive  to  the  cruel  thorns,  the  tide  of ''  blood 
and  water"  flowing  from  the  spear  thrust?  Only 
in  a  very  secondary  sense.  It  is  the  "  blood  of 
God,"  as  the  Apostle  has  expressed  it  in  the  Acts, 
with  which  He  hath  "purchased"  the  ''Church 
of  God."  The  eternal  sacrifice  is  a  spiritual 
reality  consummated  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  but  "  manifested  "  on  the  plane  of  time 
and  history  for  the  revelation  of  God  and  the  re- 
covery of  fallen  man.  The  Church  is  the  per- 
petual witness  of  this  sublime  revelation,  and  she 
is  to  present  continually  a  "  memorial  of  the 
sacrifice  of  the  death  of  Christ  until  His  coming 
again."  Surely  the  power  and  glory  of  the  priest- 
hood are  not  found  in  the  right  and  ability  to  use 
the  sacrificial  knife,  but  in  the  official  authority 
to  communicate  to  mankind  the  spiritual  gifts  of 
life  and  power  once  for  all  procured  by  the  Great 
High  Priest,  and  to  be  by  them  preserved  and 
conveyed  to  the  perishing  race,  "  until  the  end  of 
the  world."  Christ  Himself,  both  Priest  and 
Victim,  hath  delegated  by  authority  to  those 
whom  He  hath  commissioned,  the  distinctive  and 
specified  function  of  remitting  and  retaining  sins 
as  the  Divinely  constituted  organs  of  His  Hu- 
manity for  that  purpose.  He  hath  also  plainly 
set  forth  and  designated  the  sacramental  media 
by  the  continued  use  of  which  the  grace  of  life, 
pardon,  and  spiritual   nourishment    is  to  be  ob- 


198  HOLY  ORDERS. 

tained  through  the  official  ministration  of  the 
organs  He  hath  ordained.  Whatever  other  high 
and  awful  priestly  powers  He  may  still  hold  in 
His  own  hands,  these  at  least  He  has  delegated 
to  those  who  represent  Him  here.  The  priesthood 
of  His  Presbyters  is,  therefore,  His  priesthood  to 
offer  such  sacrifices  as  He  hath  appointed.  Very 
awful  indeed  is  the  responsibility  laid  upon  those 
who  are  commissioned  to  serve  in  the  sacred 
ministry  of  the  Church.  Let  them  beware  how 
they  listen  to  voices  in  the  air,  lest  they  forget 
the  dread  solemnity  of  the  office  and  administra- 
tion to  which  they  have  been  called. 

(3.)  The  statement  of  Dr.  Hatch,  that  ''  Chris- 
tianity became  more  democratical "  as  time  went 
on,  is  another  evidence  of  the  strange  way  in 
which  some  minds  fail  to  catch  the  essence  of 
the  question. 

If  our  Lord  was  merely  the  result  of  human 
development,  evolved  by  natural  process  out  of 
the  Jewish  life  of  His  age,  then,  of  course.  His 
religion  would  also  be  merely  of  human  origin, 
and  would  naturally  change  with  the  changing 
times  according  to  the  fashion  of  this  world.  To 
affirm  this  is  to  beg  the  whole  question.  If  the 
supernatural  facts  lying  at  the  base  of  Christian- 
ity be  not  historically  true,  it  is  mere  waste  of 
time  to  endeavor  to  construct  a  system  of  doc- 
trine and  polity  to  suit  them.      What  is  to  be 


HOLY  ORDERS.  199 

gained  by  deceiving  ourselves?  Christianity  is 
either  supernatural  or  it  is  not.  If  not,  our 
Scriptures,  creeds,  and  history  are  all  worthless, 
for  they  aflfirm  it  to  be  supernatural.  But  if  it  be 
in  truth  supernatural,  what  is  gained  by  trying 
to  eliminate  the  supernatural  from  its  life  and 
growth? 

Christ  is  not  elected  a  King  by  popular  vote. 
When  *'  they  would  take  Him  by  force  to  make 
Him  a  King,  He  withdrew  Himself  from  them." 
When  challenged  with  the  question,  ''Art  Thou 
a  King? "  He  acknowledged  His  royal  dignity. 
His  Kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  and  is  not  es- 
tablished in  the  world  by  such  means  as  the  chang- 
ing policy  of  the  shifting  ages  may  approve.  He 
has  issued  His  royal  edicts,  appointed  the  polity 
of  His  government,  and  designated  officers  for 
the  execution  of  His  laws.  The  constitution  of 
His  Kingdom  is  Divine,  has  been  handed  down 
from  Heaven  by  the  loving  hand  of  His  own  Hu- 
manity, has  been  intrusted  to  the  care  of  His 
Church  with  duly  commissioned  organs  for  its 
preservation  and  propagation  in  the  world. 

To  "say  that  this  has  changed,  or  is  changing, 
or  can  be  changed,  is  to  be  guilty  of  high  treason 
against  Him  who  is  "  the  same  yesterday  and  to- 
day, and  forever."  All  powers,  gifts,  govern- 
ments whatsoever  in  the  Church  of  Christ  are 
from  above,   and  can  never  under  any    circum- 


200  HOLY  ORDERS. 

stances  be  derived  from  the  people  on  whom  they 
are  conferred  by  external  commission  and  de- 
scent from  Christ  Himself. 

Holy  Orders,  we  conclude,  are  of  Divine  and 
perpetual  authority  in  the  Church,  which,  as  the 
Body  of  Christ,  is  to  convey  to  all  ages  the  bless- 
ings of  His  Incarnation.  The  sacred  ministry  is 
the  Divinely  appointed  organ  for  communicating 
to  mankind  the  life  and  graces  flowing  from 
Christ  to  His  Body,  the  Church. 

The  ministry  is  constituted  in  three  Orders, 
commonly  designated  as  Bishops,  Priests,  and 
Deacons. 

These  all  derive  their  special  designation  as 
"  organs  "  of  the  "  Body  "  by  external  commission 
and  descent  from  the  Apostles.  The  functions 
of  the  three  orders  are  plainly  defined  in  Holy 
Scripture  and  ancient  authors,  and  may  be  sum- 
marized as  follows : 

Bishops  are  distinguished  by  the  power  of  impo- 
sition of  hands  for  ordaining  successors,  and  con- 
veyance of  special  grace;  by  the  authority  of  gov- 
ernment and  discipline  as  well  of  clergy  as  of  laity. 

Presbyters  are  ordained  to  be  ministers  of  the 
Word  and  Sacraments,  to  remit  and  retain  sins 
in  such  sort  as  the  Lord  hath  commanded,  to 
offer  the  memorial  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  death 
of  Christ,  and  thus  to  ''show  forth  the  Lord's 
death  until  He  come." 


HOLY  ORDERS.  20 1 

Deacons  are  ordained  to  minister  to  the  poor, 
preach  if  they  be  thereto  Hcensed,  wait  upon 
those  who  serve  the  altar,  and  thus  to  purchase 
to  themselves  a  ''  good  degree  "  in  due  season. 

By  the  harmonious  operation  of  the  three 
orders  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  all  holy  func- 
tions the  Church  and  Kingdom  of  God  have  been 
appointed  to  grow  in  the  world  "  until  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  shall  cover  the  earth  as 
the  waters  cover  the  sea." 


lanction,  flDatrimon?,  anb  lienance. 


LECTURE  V. 

RIGHT   REV.    CHARLES   C.    GRAFTON,    S.T.D., 
Bishop  of  Fond  du  Lac. 

UNCTION,  MA  TRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE, 

"  I  speak  concerning  Christ  and  the  church." — Eph.  v.  32. 

"Is  any  sick  among  you?  let  him  call  for  the  elders  of  the 
church." — S.  James  v.  14. 

"For  behold  this  self-same  thing,  that  ye  sorrowed  after  a 
godly  sort,  what  carefulness  it  wrought  in  you,  yea,  what  clear- 
ing of  yourselves,  yea,  what  indignation,  yea,  what  fear,  yea, 
what  vehement  desire,  yea,  what  zeal,  yea,  what  revenge!" — 
2  Cor.  vii.  II. 

Three  subjects  have  been  assigned  for  this  dis- 
course: Marriage,  Unction,  and  Penance.  They 
seemingly  stand  apart.  The  light  and  joy  of  the 
marriage  feast  with  its  garlands  and  sweet 
odors,  and  music,  and  dancing  feet,  and  blossoms 
of  hope.  The  darkened  room,  the  whispered  si- 
lence, the  mystery  of  pain,  the  sufferings  of  the 
body  in  sympathy  with  its  partner  soul,  the 
stealthy  step  of  death.  The  tribunal  of  Penance, 
where  mercy  and  justice  clasp  their  hands ;  where 
God's  paternal  love  strives  with  His  erring  child ; 
from  whence  the  devils,  baffled,  flee  away  in  rage; 


2o6     UNCTION,  MA  TRIM  ON  Y,  AND  PENANCE. 

whose  deepened  sorrow  issues  in  holy  vengeance 
against  sin ;  whose  falling  tears  become  "  the 
wine  of  angels,"  or  turn  to  jewels  in  Christ's 
crown. 

Different  in  outward  garb,  one  bond  unites 
them  all,  and  that  is,  grace.  There  is  the  grace 
of  Matrimony,  the  grace  of  Unction,  the  grace  of 
Penance.  May  the  Holy  Spirit  enlighten  us  with 
the  mind  of  Christ,  fill  us  with  His  wisdom,  and 
so  lift  us  up  together  into  the  Divine  light,  that 
we  may  love  that  which  He  reveals  and  by  obe- 
dience be  conformed  to  it. 


I. 


First,  let  us  consider  the  subject  of  Unction. 
The  reason  of  its  use  lies  hidden  in  the  person  of 
Christ.  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Anointed.  So 
He  declared  Himself  to  be,  at  the  opening  of 
His  ministry,  in  the  synagogue  at  Nazareth. 

"And  He  came  to  Nazareth  .  .  .  and  .  .  . 
went  into  the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath-day, 
and  stood  up  for  to  read.  .  .  .  And  when  He 
had  opened  the  book.  He  found  the  place  where 
it  was  written.  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
Me,  because  He  hath  anointed  Me  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  poor;  He  hath  sent  Me  to  heal  the 
broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance  to  the  cap- 
tives, and  recovery  of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIM 0 NY,  AND  PENANCE.     207 

at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised.  To  preach  the 
acceptable  year  of  the  Lord."  ^ 

As  the  Son  of  Man,  He  is  anointed  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  to  be  the  world's  Supreme  Prophet, 
who  is  to  proclaim  the  year  of  jubilee,  and  to  be 
in  Himself  "the  beginning  of  the  new  creation 
of  God."  He  comes  to  gather  men  into  union 
with  His  own  transforming  nature,  that  He  may 
lift  them  up  into  God.  He  goes  out  upon  His 
work  and  all  nature  acknowledges  its  new  Mas- 
ter. The  waves  uphold  Him.  The  heavens  open 
over  Him.  The  earth  cannot  retain  Him.  Dis- 
ease flees  before  Him.  The  devils  crying  out 
acknowledge  Him.  The  angels  minister  to  Him. 
At  His  word  death  yields  up  its  prey. 

He  has  jurisdiction  over  all  things,  spiritual 
and  material.  "They  brought  to  Him  a  man 
sick  of  the  palsy,  lying  on  a  bed,  and  .  .  .  Jesus 
said  .  .  .  Son,  be  of  good  cheer,  thy  sins  be  for- 
given thee."  And  when  they  questioned,  and 
thought  evil  in  their  hearts,  He  replied,  "  But 
that  ye  may  know  that  the  Son  of  Man  hath 
power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins,  then  saith  He  to 
the  sick  of  the  palsy.  Arise,  take  up  thy  bed  and 
go  unto  thine  house."  f 

In  the  exercise  of  His  anointing  power  He 
gives  light  to  the  souls  and  healing  to  the  bodies 

*S.  Luke  iv.  18. 
t  S.  Matt.  ix.  4-6. 


2o8     UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE. 

of  men.  As  Elijah  stretched  himself  upon  the 
child,  his  face  to  the  child's  face,  his  hands  to  the 
child's  hands,  so  does  Christ  bring  His  Body  in 
contact  with  our  bodies  and  His  Soul  in  contact 
with  our  souls,  that  our  bodies  may  be  made 
whole  by  His  Body  and  our  souls  engraced  by 
the  embrace  of  His.  Our  nature  is  a  plural  unit ; 
and  as  such  Christ  so  addressed  it,  and  the  restora- 
tion of  the  body  declared  that  the  healing  gift  of 
grace  had  touched  the  soul. 

Ofttimes,  together  with  His  spoken  word  He 
used  some  significant  action,  appealing  to  the 
blind  man's  sense  of  touch  or  the  deaf  man's  use 
of  sight.  Here  He  stretches  forth  His  hand  to 
heal,  here  makes  an  ointment  of  the  clay  and 
spittle  and  anoints  the  blind  man's  eyes. 

This,  then,  is  our  first  thought— that  the  Man 
Christ  Jesus  was  anointed  to  be  the  light  of  the 
world,  to  be  as  such  the  world's  Good  Samaritan, 
and  the  enlightener  and  healer  both  of  the  bodies 
and  souls  of  men. 

Further  observe  this,  that  Christ  ordained  that 
the  grace  and  power  of  His  anointing  were  to 
continue  to  all  generations. 

This  gift  was  not  bestowed  by  Him  on  the 
Church  at  large  and  then  delegated  by  the 
Church  to  its  ministers.  It  was  given  first  by 
Christ  to  the  Apostles.  The  anointing  flowed 
down  first  to  Aaron's  beard.     It  flowed,  in  other 


UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE,     209 

words,  from  Christ,  the  Anointed  Head,  to  the 
priesthood.  From  thence  it  descended  to  the 
whole  body.  It  flowed  down  to  the  very  skirts 
of  the  mystical  garment  of  the  Church. 

Let  us  recall  how  this  began.  In  the  prepara- 
tory and  disciplinary  period  of  their  Apostleship, 
Christ  gathers  the  twelve  out  from  the  whole 
body  of  disciples  into  union  with  His  own  pro- 
phetical ministry  and  sends  them  forth  to  teach. 

They  were  at  first  limited  in  their  mission  to 
Israel.  It  is  important  to  note  the  limits  of  their 
jurisdiction.  They  were  given  jurisdiction  over 
"all  devils."*  This  is  the  way  their  gospel  power 
began.  Next,  their  ministerial  power  in  frustrat- 
ing the  ravages  of  sin  extended  to  the  cure  of 
disease.  Further  they  were  authorized  to  preach 
the  coming  in  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,f  and  that 
men  should  repent.  This  was  their  message — 
such  was  their  authority.  And  they  went  out 
and  preached  repentance,  and  Satan's  power  was 
shaken.  ''They  cast  out  devils,"  and  they  deliv- 
ered penitents  from  bodily  evils.  ''  They  anointed 
with  oil  many  that  were  sick  and  healed  them."  % 

It  is  immaterial  whether  they  carried  the  oil 
with  them  or  found  it  on  their  journey  It  is 
sufficient  that  they  used  it  as  they  did,  with  the 

*  S.  Luke  ix.  i. 

f  S.  Luke  ix.  2;  S.  Matt.  x.  7. 

X  S.  Mark  vi.  13. 


2IO     UNCTION,  MA  TRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE. 

Master's  sanction.  Christ  herein,  according  to 
His  wont,  blessed  a  recognized  remedial  agent  to 
symbolize  and  communicate  His  gift.  It  is  but 
trifling  to  suppose  that  the  Apostles  adopted 
the  unction  without  the  Master's  direction  and 
solely  for  the  healing  properties  the  oil  was  sup- 
posed to  possess.  Their  common  action  shows 
it  to  have  been  done  in  obedience  to  a  command. 
And  its  obvious  symbolical  meaning  was  to  bear 
witness  to  Christ  the  Anointed  in  whose  name 
they  wrought.  "  The  Apostles  used  it,"  says 
Wordsworth,  ''  to  show  by  the  application  of  an 
appropriate,  visible  sign,  that  the  healing  was  ef- 
ected,  by  their  instrumentality,  in  the  Name  of 
Christ,  the  Messiah  or  Anointed  One  of  God,  and 
in  His  power  who  had  sent  them." 

And  when,  after  Pentecost,  God  the  Holy 
Ghost,  by  His  permanent  indwelling  united  the 
Apostles  to  Christ;  and,  guiding  them  into  all 
truth,  revealed  Christ's  mind  to  them,  then  did 
God  the  Holy  Ghost  declare  through  them  how 
this  anointing  for  the  weal  of  soul  and  body  of 
Christian  men  should  ever  be  continued  in  the 
Church.  "  Is  any  among  you  afflicted?  let  him 
pray.  Is  any  merry?  let  him  sing  psalms.  Is 
any  sick  among  you?  let  him  call  for  the  elders 
of  the  Church,  and  let  them  pray  over  him, 
anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord."  * 
*  S.  James  v.  14. 


UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE.     211 

And  for  what  purpose  were  they  to  do  this? 
Why  were  the  elders,  or  priests,  to  be  sum- 
moned? 

In  order  intelligently  to  answer  these  questions 
we  must  first  clearly  discriminate  between  those 
special  gifts  which  our  Lord  bestowed  upon  His 
Church,  and  the  powers  which  belong  to  the 
orders  of  the  ministry. 

Our  Lord,  speaking  to  the  eleven,  said  that 
certain  signs  should  follow  them  that  believe. 
"They  should  speak  with  new  tongues,  they 
should  take  up  serpents;  and  if  they  drank  any 
deadly  thing  it  should  not  hurt  them;  they 
shall  lay  hands  on  the  sick  and  they  shall  re- 
cover."* 

We  know  these  signs,  as  Christ  foretold,  fol- 
lowed upon  prayers  and  acts  of  faith,  but  they 
are  unconnected  with  the  grace  of  order.  Clergy 
and  laity  alike  exercise  these  special  gifts  ot 
prophecy,  and  inspiration,  and  speaking  with 
tongues,  and  miracles  and  healings. 

And  here,  brethren,  take  heed  that  ye  fall  not 
into  a  common  error  of  these  days  of  spiritual 
darkness,  and  suppose  aught  of  Christ's  good 
gifts  have  perished  from  the  Church.  For  all 
His  gifts  are  contained  in  His  abiding  Presence. 
And  wherever  there  is  need,  and  the  requisite 
faith,  the  natural  world  still  owns  its  Master 
*  S.  Mark  xvi.  17. 


212     UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  V,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE, 

and  shows  itself  subordinate  to  the  spiritual  ne- 
cessities of  His  Kingdom. 

Doubtless,  when  such  manifestations  were 
frequent  in  the  Apostles'  time,  the  sick,  and  the 
sick  man's  friends,  with  our  natural  infirmity  of 
clinging  to  this  life,  would  be  prone  to  seek  out 
those  to  whom  the  special  gifts  of  healing  or  mir- 
acles had  been  vouchsafed,  or  who  were  supposed 
to  possess  them.  It  was  possibly  to  check  this 
tendency  that  the  grave  and  holy  patriarch  S. 
James,  presiding  over  the  Church  at  Jerusalem, 
and,  as  the  organ  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  speaking 
to  the  whole  Church  and  for  all  time,  promul- 
gated the  order  for  the  Christian  when  sick,  tell- 
ing him  what  to  do  and  what  to  expect. 

What  is  he  to  do?  He  is  not  to  anxiously 
seek  for  persons  accounted  possessed  of  miracu- 
lous or  faith-healing  powers,  but  to  send  for  the 
priests,  the  ordinary  ministers  who  are  every- 
where at  hand ;  for  the  elders,  upon  whom,  as 
such,  no  special  gift  of  healing  has  been  bestowed. 
So  far  as  the  cure  of  the  body  is  concerned,  let 
the  faithful  trust  themselves  to  the  prayers  of 
the  priest.  Let  them  believe  that  ''  The  effectual 
fervent  prayer  of  the  righteous  man  availeth 
much."  God  will  hear  him  just  as  He  did  Elijah, 
if  there  is  need. 

But,  in  this  time  of  sickness  the  important  con- 


UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  F,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE.     2 1 3 

cern  is  the  soul.  Let  the  priest  come  and  minister 
to  it  as  the  lay  faith  or  mind  healer  cannot  do; 
let  confession  be  made  and  sins  remitted.  And 
further  S.  James,  who  exercised  a  special  author- 
ity in  matters  of  Church  government  and  disci- 
pline, gave  order  (based  upon  the  earlier  Apos- 
tolic use  under  the  Master's  direction)  that  the 
sick  should  be  anointed  with  oil. 

S.  James  uses  the  plural  form  "elders,"  "call 
for  the  Elders  of  the  Church  "  not  as  excluding  the 
ministrations  of  a  single  priest,  but  as  manifest- 
ing the  oneness  of  the  priesthood  and  the  efificacy 
that  comes  from  united  prayer.  The  term  used, 
viz.,  "  Elder,"  excludes  the  unordained  layman 
and  the  deacon ;  it  includes  the  Bishop.  For 
while  the  layman  may  act  a3  a  spiritual  door- 
keeper of  the  Church,  and,  in  case  of  necessity, 
admit  souls  by  the  Sacrament  of  Baptism,  he 
cannot,  being  unordained,  minister  to  those  within 
in  aught  that  requires  consecration.  The  dea- 
con may,  indeed,  bear  the  chalice  of  the  Precious 
Blood,  and  communicate  the  faithful,  yet  cannot 
assist  in  ministering  the  gifts  of  grace  which  are 
disciplinary  and  restorative.  So  it  is  the  elder  or 
priest  who  is  here  bidden  to  "  pray  over  the  sick 
and  anoint  him  with  oil,  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord." 

The  oil,  for  the  Church  does  everything  de- 


2 1 4     UNC  TION,  MA  TRIMON  V,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE. 

cently  and  in  order,  is  prayerfully  set  apart  for 
its  holy  purpose."^ 

The  consecration  of  the  oil  shows  that  God 
blesses  natural  restoratives — ''  the  medicine  He 
gives  to  heal  our  sickness  "  f — and  it  witnesses 
against  those  who  wantonly  reject  all  use  of 
medicine.  "  Honor  a  physician  with  the  honor 
due  to  him.  The  Lord  hath  created  medicines 
out  of  the  earth ;  and  he  that  is  wise  will  not 
abhor  them."  \  Its  consecration  further  declares 
that    the   benefit    comes    not    from    the    natural 

*  In  the  holy  orthodox  Eastern  Church  it  is  consecrated  by 
seven  priests.  In  our  western  portion  of  Christendom  it  has 
been  reserved,  as  of  propriety,  to  the  bishop.  The  priest,  indeed, 
can  consecrate  the  Host  and  absolve  the  penitent,  for  he  has 
jurisdiction  over  the  natural  and  spiritual  Body  of  Christ,  but  he 
does  not  consecrate  the  sacred  oils.  For  while  the  "  Sacraments 
of  the  Gospel "  are  administered  by  the  priest,  the  Sacraments 
of  the  Spirit,  i.e.^  Ordination,  Confirmation,  and  Unction,  ap- 
pertain primarily  to  the  bishop.  In  all  these  the  presbytery 
may  assist:  in  laying  on  of  hands  in  Ordination,  in  administer- 
ing the  Chrism  in  Confirmation,  when  it  is  so  administered,  and 
in  anointing  the  sick  with  the  holy  oil  which  the  bishop  has  blessed. 

The  merciful  providence  of  God,  by  the  ordering  of  events,  did 
away  with  the  form  of  anointing  set  forth  in  the  first  Prayer- 
Book  of  Edward,  which  was  defective  in  not  providing  authorita- 
tively for  the  consecration  of  the  oil.  No  national  church,  nor, 
indeed,  a  general  council,  can  abrogate  God's  word,  nor  set 
aside  a  means  of  grace;  and  though  the  Anglican  Church  has 
been  deprived  of  an  office  authorized  by  common  authority,  it  has 
been  providentially  preserved  from  one  which  the  rest  of  Christen- 
dom would  have  regarded  as  defective. 

f  Ps.  cxlvii.  3.  if  Eccles.  xxxviii.  i,  4. 


UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  V,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE.     2 1 5 

means  alone,  but  by  the  added  power  of  the 
word  of  God.  For  it  is  a  common  law  that  by- 
Sacraments  all  life,  natural  and  spiritual,  is  given 
and  preserved.  The  food  we  eat  is  a  Sacrament 
communicating  life  in  the  natural  order,  as  the 
Eucharist  is  in  the  heavenly.  The  consecration 
of  the  oil  moreover  connects  the  outward  symbol 
with  Christ,  the  Anointed  Healer  of  mankind, 
who  is  the  remedy  for  all  our  woes,  and  it 
signifies  the  spiritual  blessings  we  are  to  receive 
from  Him.  For  Sacraments  are,  as  our  Articles 
declare,  effectual  signs  of  grace,  i.e.,  they  effect 
what  they  signify.  And  the  Holy  Spirit  tells  us, 
by  S.  James,  what  the  efTect  here  will  be.  Body 
and  soul  of  the  sick  alike  need  help.  If  he  hath 
committed  sins,  let  him  confess  them,  and  let 
prayer  be  made  for  his  healing.  The  prayer  of 
faith  and  the  anointing  shall  then  avail  ''  to  save 
the  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up;  and  if 
he  have  committed  sins,  they  shall  be  forgiven 
him." 

Observe  here  most  carefully  that  all  the  terms 
used — the  "saving,"  and  "raising  up,"  and  "for- 
giveness of  sin  " — imply,  as  your  Bibles  will  in 
many  places  declare  unto  you,  a  spiritual  bene- 
fit. "  The  engrafted  word,  which  is  able  to  save 
your  souls."  *  God  "  hath  raised  us  up  together, 
and  made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in 
*  S.  James  i.  21. 


2i6     UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE. 

Christ  Jesus."  "^  "Like  as  Christ  was  raised  up 
from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even 
so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life."  f 

Now,  whatever  may  be  the  primary  object  of 
the  sick  man's  desire — to  get  well  or  not — of  a 
spiritual  benefit  the  soul  must  be  the  primary  re- 
cipient. To  this  the  bodily  benefit  which  may 
follow  is  incidental  and  subordinate. 

You  will  perceive  from  all  this  that  the  Church's 
established  order  for  Christian  anointing  differs 
from  the  act  of  the  disciples  described  in  S. 
Mark.  Then,  the  Holy  Ghost  had  not  been 
given.  Their  baptism,  like  that  of  S.  John  Bap- 
tist, was  but  an  outward  sign,  without  an  accom- 
panying inward  grace.  Their  anointing  was  but 
a  sign  of  Christ's  coming,  and  a  communication 
of  a  gift  of  mere  bodily  health.  After  Pente- 
cost, the  Church  is  established.  The  Holy  Spirit 
dwells  ever  after  in  her.  In  this  dispensation  of 
the  Spirit  a  higher  plane  of  power  and  blessing 
is  reached.  The  gifts  are  spiritual.  The  soul  is 
the  primary  recipient  of  them,  and  the  body  re- 
ceives its  blessing  as  it  is  subordinate  to  the  soul, 
and  as  it  is  saved,  raised  up,  and  forgiven. 

In  contrast  with  the  other  Sacraments  we  see 
that  Unction  has  its  own  special  significance.  As 
Baptism  is  by  way  of  washing,  and  as  Commun- 

*  Eph.  ii.  6. 
f  Rom.  vi.  4. 


UNC  TION,  MA  TRIMON  K,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE.     2 1 7 

fon  is  by  way  of  food,  Unction  uses  a  remedial 
agent  and  removes  infirmities.  In  Baptism  we 
are  regenerated,  in  Confirmation  fortified,  in 
Communion  fed,  in  Penance  restored,  by  Unc- 
tion we  are  healed,  assuaged,  gladdened,  calmed, 
refreshed. 

Wounded  in  its  life-contest  with  its  ever-pres- 
ent enemies,  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil, 
the  penitent  soul  takes  refuge  in  the  absolving 
word  of  Christ  ministered  to  us  by  His  priests. 
When  sickness,  with  its  trials,  its  anxieties,  its 
temptations,  its  fears,  and  doubts,  and  weariness, 
comes  upon  us,  when  spiritual  assaults  are  more 
keenly  felt,  and  the  spirit  is  apt  to  faint,  and  the 
avenue  that  leads  to  the  great  unknown  begins  to 
hem  us  in,  then  comes  the  Unction  that  bright- 
ens, cheers,  strengthens,  assuages,  heals — a  fresh 
anointing  from  the  Great  Anointed,  breathing  of 
peace  and  calmness — as  a  final  adornment  and 
preparation  for  presentation  at  the  court  of  the 
Great  King. 

It  is  not  to  be  used  when  illness  is  but  trifling, 
nor  properly  just  when  the  sick  is  in  extremis,  as 
it  is  mistakenly  asserted  the  Roman  Church  only 
employs  it ;  ^  but  when  illness  is  "  serious  "  it  may 
be    resorted    to,    or   when    by   reason  of   illness 

*  It  is  called  extreme  unction  in  the  Roman  Church,  because  it 
is  the  last  unction  administered,  and  because  it  is  a  preparation 
for  death. 


2 1 8     UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  Y,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE. 

there  is  danger  of  death.  It  is  not  to  be  admin- 
istered to  young  children,  because  it  requires  acts 
spiritual,  but  to  those  who  have  come  to  years  of 
discretion.  The  recipient  must  be  a  baptized 
person.  The  organs  of  the  five  senses  are  usu- 
ally anointed,  but  one  anointing,  i.e.,  on  the  head, 
is  held  to  suffice.     It  may  be  repeated. 

That  the  chief  end  of  the  Sacrament  is  the 
communication  of  some  spiritual  benefit,  and  not 
bodily  healing,  is  seen  from  this.  Had  the  chief 
end  of  this  Sacrament  been  bodily  restoration, 
we  should  have  found  considerable  evidence  of 
its  use,  and  references  to  the  healings  effected,  in 
the  writings  of  the  early  centuries.  But  if  the 
purpose  of  its  promulgation  by  S.  James  was 
to  lead  men  away  from  resorting  to  the  miracu- 
lous or  faith  healing  gifts  to  the  ordered  minis- 
tration of  the  clergy  for  the  spiritual  needs  of  the 
sick,  we  naturally  should  find  in  early  writings 
but  little  said  concerning  it.  And  this  is  the 
case.  As  a  spiritual  aid  in  time  of  serious  illness, 
it  did  not  enter  into  the  teachings  of  the  Cate- 
chumens, as  Baptism,  Confirmation,  Penance,  and 
the  Eucharist  necessarily  did.  It  did  not  have 
to  find  a  place  in  the  Apologies.  It  was  not,  like 
Baptism  and  the  Holy  Eucharist,  a  necessity. 
Its  use  would  be  limited  and  infrequent  in  times 
of  persecution.  It  could  not,  like  the  Blessed 
Sacrament,  be  borne  to  the  sick  by  lay  hands. 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIM  ON  V,  AND  PEN  A  NCR.     2  r  9 

Its  use  would  naturally  be  further  limited  by  the 
mixed  marriages  of  Christians  and  heathen,  and 
the  difficulty  of  performing  a  Christian  rite  in 
the  presence  of  the  latter. 

But  its  existence  in  the  Church  as  a  usable 
means  of  grace  is  witnessed  to,  not  only  by  in- 
direct and  imperfect  references  made  to  it  by 
Origen,  S.  Ephrem,  S.  Ambrose,  S.  Chrysostom, 
S.  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  and  clearly  by  S.  Innocent, 
but  by  the  practice  of  heretics  mentioned  by  S. 
Irenseus  in  the  second  century,  and  in  later  times 
by  the  concurrent  custom  of  the  Greeks,  Armen- 
ians, Nestorians,  andall  the  Orientals,  who  in  this 
matter  are  at  one  with  the  Western  Church. 

This  common  and  abiding  usage  in  the  Church 
East  and  West  is  a  witness  that  the  promulgation 
by  S.  James,  in  his  singular  position  as  Presiding 
Apostle  at  Jerusalem,  was  not  to  serve  a  tempo- 
rary purpose ;  that  it  was  not  a  practice,  like  the 
kiss  of  peace  or  the  washing  of  the  feet,  which  the 
Church  would  preserve  in  its  public  ceremonial 
rites,  but  that  it  was  a  means  of  grace  intended 
for  all  Christian  people  through  all  time. 

The  Word  of  God  may  be  neglected,  but  it 
cannot  be  repealed.     It  abideth  forever. 

Whatever  Christ,  by  Himself  or  through  His 
Apostles,  instituted  for  the  conveying  of  grace  to 
the  soul,  is  of  perpetual  and  enduring  value. 

God  forbid  that  our  Communion,  thankful  for 


2  2  o     UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  V,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE. 

all  that  the  providence  of  God  has  done  for  it, 
should  be  unwilling  to  acknowledge  any  of  its 
short-comings,  or  fail  to  claim  all  its  Catholic  heri- 
tage, or  abstain  from  seeking  to  regain  this  Holy- 
Anointing,  which  the  late  learned  and  saintly 
Bishop  of  Brechin  called  ''  the  lost  Pleiad  of  the 
Anglican  Communion." 

II.  Matrimony. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  our  second  topic.  Man, 
created  in  the  image  of  God,  bears  witness  of 
Him.  Humanity  was  divided,  by  the  creative 
evolutionary  action,  into  male  and  female.  As  the 
Son  is  begotten  of  the  Father,  and  is  God  of  God 
and  Light  of  Light,  this  mystery  was  shadowed 
forth  in  that  the  woman  is  represented  as  taken  of 
the  very  substance  of  the  man.  She  was  bone  of 
his  bone,  flesh  of  his  flesh.  As  the  Father  and 
Son  are  eternally  united  by  the  action  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  which  proceeds  from  each,  so  the  man  and 
the  woman  were  united  in  matrimony.  They  were 
to  typify,  by  their  mutual  love  and  the  perma- 
nence of  their  marriage  relation,  the  life  of  God 
in  Himself. 

The  Incarnation  began  a  new  creation.  There 
is  a  new  bridegroom,  Jesus  Christ.  A  new  bride, 
the  Church.  She  is  form^ed,  by  Sacraments,  out 
of  His  side.     She  is  bone  of  His  bone,  flesh  of 


UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  F,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCR.     221 

His  flesh.  And  marriage  has  now  a  new  sym- 
bolic meaning,  and  has  received,  for  its  higher 
mission  and  greater  task,  the  grace  needed  for  its 
fulfilment. 

Christian  marriage,  i.e.,  the  marriage  of  the 
baptized,  is  now  to  bear  witness  to  the  mystery 
of  Christ  and  the  Church.  It  is  to  bear  witness 
to  three  great  facts  concerning  it. 

The  oneness  of  the  Bridegroom  and  His  all- 
satisfying  love. 

The  oneness  of  the  Church  and  its  organic 
unity. 

The  inseparability  of  the  union,  which  neither 
life  nor  death,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  any  creature,  can  sever. 

Let  me  speak  to  you  of  the  different  ways  by 
which,  through  the  grace  given  by  Christ,  Chris- 
tian marriage  is  made  to  fulfil  this  high  and  three- 
fold office. 

Concerning  the  first — the  One  Bridegroom 
and  His  all-satisfying  love — you  must  remember 
that  Christ  has  instituted  two  kinds  of  marriage: 
the  marriage  of  the  baptized  man  and  woman  to 
one  another,  and  the  mystical  marriage  of  either 
to  Himself  in  the  religious  state. 

The  religious  state,  my  brethren,  was  found- 
ed by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  a  state,  as 
you  may  know,  of  entire  self-consecration  and  is 
founded  on  the  three  counsels  of  poverty,  chas- 


2  2  2      UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  V,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCR. 

tity,  and  obedience.  These  counsels  our  Lord 
gave  at  different  times,  saying  to  the  rich  young 
man  who  came  to  Him,  "  If  thou  wilt  be  perfect, 
go  and  sell  all  that  thou  hast  and  come  and  fol- 
low Me;"*  when  Apostles  disputed  who  should 
be  greatest,  putting  a  little  child  before  them 
and  saying:  "He  that  will  be  greatest  among 
you,  let  him  become  as  a  little  child."  Again, 
He  taught  them :  "All  men  cannot  receive  this 
saying,  save  they  to  whom  it  is  given."  "There 
be  eunuchs  who  have  made  themselves  eunuchs 
for  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven's  sake.  He  that  is 
able  to  receive  it,  let  him  receive  it."  f  He 
clearly  designated  here,  you  observe,  a  perma- 
nent and  unalterable  state. 

He  exemplified  these  counsels  in  His  own  life — 
by  His  voluntarily  assumed  poverty,  when  He 
left  His  home  at  Nazareth  and  became  a  w^an- 
derer,  having  no  place  where  to  lay  His  Head ; 
by  His  abandonment  of  His  blessed  mother, 
when  He  separated  from  her  at  Cana's  feast  till 
His  hour  should  come;  by  His  obedience  to  the 
minute  course  and  rule  of  life  laid  down  for  Him 
by  prophecy  and  type  in  the  Scriptures;  and 
which  He  fulfilled  to  the  letter,  subjecting  His 
human  will  to  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

In  this  life  of  voluntary  poverty,  chastity,  and 

*  S.  Matt.  xix.  21. 
f  S.  Matt.  xix.  II,  12. 


UNC  TION,  MA  TRIMON  F,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCR.     223 

obedience,  He  trained  the  Apostles.  The  early- 
Church  was  full  of  the  spirit  of  this  life;  for  it  is 
to  be  shared  in  by  every  Christian,  according  to 
his  vocation.  It  took,  under  Apostolic  direction, 
a  recognized  form.  There  were  the  "widows  "  * 
or  consecrated  virgins,  as  we  hear  from  S.  Igna- 
tius the  latter  were  called.  S.  Paul  gives  order 
concerning  this  ecclesiastical  institute  (S.  Tim. 
chap.  v.  9-16)  as  well  as  concerning  natural  widows 
who  were  simply  Church  beneficiaries  (S.  Tim. 
chap.  V.  3-8).  He  commended  the  state  by  his  own 
example  and  exhortation.  "  He  that  is  unmar- 
ried careth  for  the  things  of  the  Lord  how  he 
may  please  the  Lord."  Every  age  of  the  Church 
has  been  enriched  by  this  life  of  entire  consecra- 
tion. The  greatest  missionaries  of  the  Church 
have  come  forth  from  its  organizations.  The  state, 
changing  in  outward  form,  has  ever  preserved  its 
internal  principles.  These  were  given  by  the 
Master.     And  the  life  is  thus  an  integral  portion 

*  "  In  the  sub-apostolic  age  X^pa,  widow  had  an  ecclesiastical, 
as  well  as  a  ;?«/«ra/ meaning;  it  was  even  used  of  women  who 
had  never  been  married,  but  who  had  consecrated  themselves  to 
God  in  a  single  life.  Cf,  S.  Ignatius  ad  Smyrn,  c.  13:  'The 
virgins  who  are  called  widows.'  It  would  appear  probable  that 
in  the  Apostolic  age  all  women  consecrated  to  God  in  a  single  life, 
and  for  doing  works  of  mercy,  formed  a  single  rdyfia  or  order. 
One  aspect  of  such  a  general  institute  was  developed  in  this  por- 
tion of  the  Church  and  another  in  that.  In  time  the  different 
elements  of  the  common  apostolic  institute  became  distinct 
bodies."     Liddon's  Notes  on  S.  Timothy. 


2  24     UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  F,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE. 

of  Christianity.  To  be  destitute  of  it  is  to  be 
wanting  in  a  requisite  token  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  For  nothing  can  our  Communion  be 
more  grateful  to  God  than  for  the  renewal  of  this 
life  within  this  century. 

"  Blessed,  thrice  blessed,  they,"  as  a  saintly 
servant  of  God  wrote,"^  "  to  whom  Christ  alone 
sufificeth,  the  one  aim  of  whose  being  is  to  live  to 
Him  and  for  Him.  For  Him  they  adorn  them- 
selves; His  eyes  alone  they  desire  to  please 
through  His  graces  in  them ;  Him  they  long  to 
serve  without  distraction;  at  His  feet  they  ever 
sit;  to  Him  they  speak  in  their  inmost  souls,  to 
Him  they  hearken.  He  is  their  light,  their  love, 
their  holy  joy;  to  Him  they  ever  approach  with 
trustfulness;  Him  they  consult  in  all  things,  on 
Him  they  wait-  Him  they  love,  even  because 
they  love  Him,  and  desire  nothing  from  Him 
but  His  love,  desire  no  love  but  only  His. 
Blessed  foretaste  of  life  eternal,  to  desire  noth- 
ing on  earth  but  the  life  of  angels,  and  the  new 
song;  to  be  wholly  His,  whom  her  soul  loveth, 
and  He,  the  Lord  of  angels,  to  be  wholly  hers, 
as  she  says,  *  I  am  my  Beloved's  and  my  Beloved 
is  mine.'  " 

Blessed  indeed  as  this  life  is  to  those  conse- 
crated ones  who  walk  faithfully  in  it,  its  value  to 
the  Church  lies  in  the  standing  witness  it  bears 
*Pusey.     Tar.  Sermons,  vol.  ii.    The  Sacredness  of  Marriage. 


UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  F,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE.     225 

to  the  supreme  importance  of  the  eternal  world ; 
to  the  moral  law  of  self-sacrifice  by  which  the 
Divine  life  is  attained,  and  pre-eminently  as  it 
sets  forth  the  mystery  of  the  oneness  of  the 
Bridegroom  and  the  all-sufificiency  of  His  love. 

How  was  the  second  point — the  oneness  of  the 
Church,  as  the  one  Bride — to  be  proclaimed?  The 
answer  is,  by  the  Gospel  law  regulating  the  mar- 
riage of  the  priests. 

Where  the  stricter  line,  counselled  by  S.  Paul, 
is  not  taken,  and  the  priest  marries,  the  New 
Testament  allows  him  to  be  married  but  once. 
This  law  is  set  forth  very  explicitly  in  God's 
Word,  in  the  special  epistle  given  for  the  selec- 
tion, ordination,  and  discipline  of  the  Christian 
ministry.  Speaking  of  the  two  lower  orders  of 
the  clergy,  S.  Paul  writes:"^  "A  bishop" — an 
elder  or  presbyter — "  must  be  blameless,  the  hus- 
band of  one  wife."  In  like  manner  he  says  of  the 
deacons:  "Let  the  deacons  be  the  husbands  of 
one  wife." 

There  are  only  three  possible  interpretations 
of  this  divinely  given  Church  law,  viz.,  that  the 
priest  must  be  married ;  that  he  must  not  have 
been  or  be  a  polygamist ;  that  he  must  marry,  if 
at  all,  only  once. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  which  of  these  is  the 
correct  one  and  expresses  the  mind  of  God. 
*  I  S.  Tim.  iii.  2,  12. 
15 


226     UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE. 

The  text  cannot  mean  that  the  priest  must  be 
married,  for  this  construction  ignores  the  signifi- 
cance and  use  of  the  word  "  one."  The  text 
does  not  say  that  he  must  be  married,  but  must 
be  the  husband  but  of  one  wife.  It  is  also  entirely 
irreconcilable  with  what  S.  Paul  counsels  in  i 
Cor.  vii.  7,  and  would  make  God's  Word  contra- 
dict itself.  "  It  would  suggest — with  equal  rea- 
son— that  he  must  have  children  (cf.  ver.  4)  be- 
cause, if  he  has  them,  the  Apostle  gives  rules 
concerning  them."  "^ 

This  law  for  the  clergy  cannot  be  construed  as 
merely  prohibiting  their  indulgence  in  polygamy. 
For  no  special  reason  can  be  assigned  why  the 
clergy  should  be  thus  warned  against  that  which, 
equally  with  murder  and  theft,  was  regarded  as  a 
crime  by  all  Christians.  Nor  can  the  meaning 
be  the  exclusion  from  Holy  Orders  of  those  who 
had  been  polygamists  before  their  conversion, 
for  at  this  time  simultaneous  polygamy  had  dis- 
appeared among  the  Jews,  and  was  regarded  as 
infamous  by  Greeks  and  Romans. 

There  is  but  one  conclusion  left.  The  text 
means,  and  can  have  no  other  meaning  than  this: 
that,  by  God's  command,  the  clergy  cannot  law- 
fully marry  more  than  once.  This  interpretation 
is  put  beyond  all  question,  by  the  parallel  com- 
mand given  respecting  the  women.  The  "  widow  " 
*  Liddon. 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIM  ON  Y,  AND  PENANCE.     227 

who  is  to  be  admitted  into  the  ecclesiastical 
order  of  widows,  is  required  to  be  the  "  wife  of 
one  husband."  *  This  cannot  mean  a  prohibition 
against  her  having  several  husbands  at  the  same 
time,  as  if  other  women  might,  but  that  she 
should  be  but  once  married;  and  so  in  respect  of 
the  admission  of  men  to  the  ecclesiastical  order, 
the  command  that  the  presbyter  and  deacon 
shall  be  the  husband  of  one  wife  prohibits  succes- 
sive, not  a  simultaneous,  polygamy. 

The  spiritual  reason  for  this  command  is,  that 
the  ideal  of  marriage,  which  suggests  that  of 
Christ  and  His  Church,  is  violated  by  a  second 
marriage.  There  is  but  one  Bridegroom,  Jesus 
Christ,  and  one  bride,  the  Church.  It  is  to  this 
fact  the  clergy  are  to  bear  witness,  not  merely  by 
sermons  about  the  One  Holy  Catholic  Church, 
but  by  the  more  emphatic  and  persuasive  witness 
of  a  life  involving  a  special  sacrifice.  It  was  by 
their  acts  and  lives  the  prophets  of  old  so  effec- 
tively taught,  and  so  now  would  Christ  have  His 
stewards  and  ambassadors  in  the  same  impres- 
sive manner  bear  witness  to  a  sensualized  and 
blinded  world.  Of  old,  the  high  priest  could 
marry  but  once,  and  then  only  a  virgin.  His 
marriage  was  to  typify  Christ  and  His  Church. 
And  that  which  under  the  law  was  bound  on  the 
high  priest  only,  now  in  the  fulness  of  the  Gospel 

*  I  S.  Tim.  V.  9. 


228     UNCTION,  MA  TRIM  ON  Y,  AND  PENANCE. 

grace  is  made  the  law  of  every  Christian  priest. 
Bodies  which  have  lost  the  priesthood,  have  lost 
with  it  the  sense  of  its  sanctity  and  obligation. 
But  for  Church  clergy  to  preach  about  the  one 
Church  and  marry  twice,  is  to  break  a  clear  com- 
mandment and  deny  by  their  action  what  they 
preach.  Our  Anglican  Communion  in  America 
has  been  so  surrounded  by  the  nebulous  and 
shattered  Christianity  of  the  sects,  that,  like  Israel 
affected  by  her  sojourn  at  Babylon,  our  spiritual 
insight  has  suffered,  and  the  elevating  voice  of 
some  re-establishing  Ezra*  is  needed  to  recall 
us  to  our  forgotten  obligations. 

The  mystical  marriage  to  Christ  of  the  relig- 
ious declares  the  oneness  of  the  Bridegroom,  the 
single  marriage  of  the  priest  the  oneness  of  the 
Bride,  the  eternal  union  between  Christ  and  His 
Church  is  witnessed  by  the  indissolubility  of 
Christian  marriage. 

A  consummated  Christian  marriage  is  abso- 
lutely indissoluble.  Priests  are  not  bound  to 
unite  persons  out  of  their  cures.  They  should  be 
careful  not  to  marry  without  witnesses,  or  to 
marry  persons  suspected  of  running  away  or 
being  under  age;  or  in  any  way  which  is  not 
public ;  or  where  the  conditions  of  entering  into 
matrimony  soberly  and  in  the  fear  of  God  are 
disregarded ;  or,  save  in  exceptional  cases,  other 

*  Ezra  ix.  1-5. 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIM  ON  Y,  AND  PENANCE.     229 

than  in  church;  and  should  always  make  strict 
inquiry  concerning  the  parties*  previous  state 
and  relation  to  each  other,  and  whether  they 
have  been  baptized,  as  the  blessing  of  the  Church 
can  be  given  only  to  such.  There  are  impedi- 
ments to  marriage  which  may  enable  the  Church 
to  declare  void  a  marriage.  There  are  ecclesi- 
astical restrictions  which  may  be  dispensed ;  but 
the  bond  of  matrimony  cannot  be  broken.* 

The  teaching  of  the  Master  is  most  clear: 
"  Whosoever  putteth  away  his  wife  and  marrieth 
another  committeth  adultery."  ''  If  a  woman 
shall  put  away  her  husband  and  be  married  to 
another,  she  committeth  adultery."  f  "  Whoso- 
ever marrieth  her  that  is  put  away  from  her  hus- 
band committeth  adultery."  %  "  Whosoever  shall 
put  away  his  wife  and  marry  another,  commit- 
teth   adultery    against    her."§     The    Apostolic 

*  In  the  Holy  Roman  Church  no  marriage  can  be  dissolved 
except  in  three  cases.  "  First,  when  of  two  unbaptized  persons, 
man  and  wife,  the  one  is  converted,  and  the  unconverted  party 
refuses  to  live  peaceably  in  wedlock,  the  convert  may  marry  again, 
and  thereupon  also  the  other  party.  So  the  Church  understands 
S.  Paul,  I  Cor.  vii.  13,  15.  Again,  the  Pope  can  grant  a  divorce 
a  vinculo  in  the  marriage  of  baptized  persons  before  cohabitation. 
Such  a  marriage  in  that  stage  is  also  dissolved  by  the  profession 
of  one  of  the  parties  in  a  religious  order.  Beyond  these  three 
cases  the  Catholic  Church  allows  neither  the  lawfulness  nor  the 
validity  of  any  divorce  a  vinculo  by  whomsoever  given,  to  what- 
soever parties." — Rickaby,  S.  J.,  "  Moral  Philosophy,"  p.  274. 

t  S.  Matt.  xi.  II,  12.      X  S.  Luke  xvi.  18.      §  S.  Mark  x.  11. 


230     UNCTION,  MA  TRIM O NY,  AND  PENANCE. 

teaching  is  the  same.  "  And  unto  the  married  I 
command,  yet  not  I  but  the  Lord,  let  not  the 
wife  depart  from  her  husband.  But  and  if  she 
depart,  let  her  remain  unmarried,  or  be  recon- 
ciled to  her  husband."  *  Both  the  man  and  the 
woman  are  thus  absolutely  forbidden  to  re-marry 
after  separation. 

One  text  alone  requires  explanation.  Our 
Lord  said :  "  Whosoever  shall  put  away  his  wife, 
except  it  be  for  fornication^  and  shall  marry  an- 
other, committeth  adultery."  f  The  explanation 
is  this.  One  school  of  Jewish  teachers  had  al- 
lowed divorce  for  trifling  causes,  and  the  Master 
rebukes  this  practice,  and  gives  as  the  only  excuse 
for  a  separation  the  sin  He  names.  X  Now  an  ex- 
cuse for  separation  is  not  a  permission  to  re- 
marry. For  He  does  not  say:  "  Whosoever  shall 
marry  another,  except  it  be  for  fornication,  com- 
mitteth adultery."  But  the  exception  is  placed 
after  and  applies  only  to  separation,  which  S. 
Matthew,  writing  for  the  Jews,  who  had  disputed 
about  this  matter,  alone  records.  It  does  not 
apply  to  the  marrying  again,  which  our  Lord  in 
every  other  place  absolutely  forbids. 

*  I  Cor.  vii.  10,  II.  f  S.  Matt.  xix.  g. 

%  Into  the  dispute  between  the  meaning  of  the  term  used  it  is 
not  necessary  to  enter.  The  word  is  Tropveia  (fornication),  not 
fiotxeia  (adultery).  See  Dr.  Dollinger,  First  Age  of  the  Church, 
ii.,  262,  359,     Liddon's  University  Ser.,  Human  Law,  note. 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE.     231 

In  this  respect  our  American  Church  is  not 
yet  in  entire  accord  with  the  preponderating 
witness  in  regard  to  Christ's  teaching  as  given  by 
the  undivided  Church.* 

Since  we  assert  with  much  confidence  in  our 
Articles  that  National  Churches  have  erred  and 
do  err,  so  we  ought  to  have  the  courage  and  hu- 
mility to  acknowledge  that  our  American  Church 
has  erred  also,  in  not  sufficiently  guarding  the  in- 
violability of  marriage.  Our  nation  is  sunk  in  pol- 
lution, in  this  matter  of  marriage,  out  of  which  only 
some  scourge  of  God  can  seemingly  deliver  it. 
Yet  not  so  only,  let  us  hope,  but  also  by  the  blessed 
influences  that  go  forth  from  Christian  homes, 
where  the  grace  of  Christ  forms  the  true   bond 

*  A  learned  Anglican  canonist,  the  Rev.  G.  Bayfield  Roberts, 
thus  sums  up  the  ancient  Church  law  on  the  subject:  "  Of  twenty 
councils,  seven  allow  the  re -marriage  of  the  innocent  party,  under 
certain  circumstances^  viz.:  Vannes  (465);  an  Irish  synod  of  un- 
certain date;  two  councils  of  Rome  (826,  853);  Worms  (868); 
Bourges  (1031);  Limoges  II  (1031);  the  two  latter  councils  being 
constituted  by  the  same  Bishops.  Thirteen  absolutely  forbid  re- 
marriage :  Apostolical  canons,  received  by  the  great  Council  of 
Trullo  (692);  Elvira  (305);  Aries  (314);  Carthage  (407);  Milevis 
(416);  Hertford  (673);  Nantes  (658);  Soissons  (744);  Fruili(79i); 
Toul  II  (860);  Aix  III  (862);  Tribur  (895);  Trosle  (909).  Now, 
putting  aside  the  obscure  Council  of  Vannes,  which  only  virtually, 
not  specifically,  permits  re-marriage,  and  that  to  the  man  only, 
and  the  Irish  synod,  of  unknown  date  and  of  questionable  au- 
thenticity, there  remain  only  five  councils  which  permit  re-mar- 
riage, at  two  of  which  the  same  Bishops  were  present.  This  re- 
duces the  number  to  four,  of  which  the  earliest  in  date  is  826, 


232      UNC  TION,  MA  TRIM  ON  Y,  A  ND  PEN  A  NCE. 

of  that  marriage  union  which  is  typical  of  the 
enduring  relation  of  Christ  and  His  Church. 

" '  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ 
loved  the  Church.'  Love  as  He  loved  who 
loved  the  Church  more  than  Himself,  and  gave 
Himself  for  her.  Love  as  He  loved  who  loved 
souls  not  for  what  they  were  but  for  what  He 
would  make  them.  We  love  after  the  pattern  of 
Christ  when  we  love  in  one  another  the  deathless 
beauty  of  the  soul  which  Christ  gives;  when  we 
love  in  despite  of  defects  which  Christ  will  by  His 
grace  remove;  when  we  are  patient  and  forbear- 
ing with  what  Christ  has  not  yet  removed,  look- 
ing and  longing  for  His  transforming  grace  now, 
yet  onward  still  to  that  mighty  working  whereby 
He  is  able  to  subdue  all  things  to  Himself.     This 

and  not  one  is  of  any  special  weight.  On  the  other  hand,  thirteen 
councils  absolutely  forbid  re-marriage,  and  among  them  are 
several  councils  of  the  greatest  weight  and  authority.  The  Canon 
law  on  the  subject  was,  at  any  rate,  definitely  settled  for  the 
whole  Church  by  the  year  692,  when  (if  not  before)  the  African 
code  was  added  to  the  existing  Greek  code.  The  former  explicitly 
condemned  re-marriage  after  divorce,  and  by  its  reception  in  the 
East  obtained  oecumenical  sanction.  The  counter  evidence  of  a 
few  obscure  and  insignificant  local  councils  may  fairly  be  dis- 
missed as  of  no  weight,  and  as  having  been  influenced  by  the 
laxity  of  the  civil  law." 

"  The  Eastern  Church  discountenances  such  marriages,  and  it  is 
only  since  the  eleventh  century  that  it  has  tolerated  them." 

The  American  Church  canons  allow  of  re-marriage  of  the  inno- 
cent party.     The  English  Church  does  not. 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE.     233 

love  shall  grow  with  years,  as  the  love  of  Christ 
and  the  grace  of  Christ,  which  is  the  beauty  of 
the  soul,  grows  and  is  enlarged  in  each.  This 
love  shall  be  refined  and  purified  by  sickness  and 
the  wasting  of  the  body,  as  the  soul  shall  lay 
aside  its  dross. .  This  love  shall  not  decay,  much 
less  die  after  the  body's  death.  For  souls  which 
are  united  in  Christ  shall  not  be  separated  from 
Christ;  they  shall  live  on  still,  one  in  the  one 
love  of  Christ.  Love,  then,  with  a  love  which 
shall  not  pass  away;  a  love  of  Christ,  from 
Christ,  in  Christ,  to  Christ.  So  shall  love  be  per- 
fected in  the  abiding  fulness  of  that  transporting, 
deifying  love  when  God  shall  be  all  in  all  and 
we  shall  be  like  Him  who  is  love,  and  we,  'ac- 
cepted in  Christ  Jesus,' '  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.'  "  * 


HI. 


Briefly,  dear  brethren,  must  I  speak  of  Penance, 
the  third  subject  assigned  me.  Let  me  put  be- 
fore you  two  preliminary  thoughts.  First,  the 
power  of  the  priesthood  to  remit  or  retain  sins. 

God  only  can  forgive  sins.  He  has,  however, 
committed  this  power  in  the  new  dispensation  to 
Christ  as  the  Son  of  Man.  It  is  His  by  two  gifts. 
The  gift  of  the  indwelling  Holy  Spirit.  The 
Holy  Spirit  was  given  "  without  measure  to  Him  " 

*  Abbreviated  from  Pusey :    Sermon  on  Marriage. 


234     UNCTION,  MA  TRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE. 

and  dwelt  within  His  human  nature  and  empow- 
ered it.  Secondly,  the  gift  of  the  commission 
and  anointing  received  at  His  baptism.  Pos- 
sessed by  these  two  gifts  of  this  authority  He 
wrought  a  miracle  to  show  that  as  Son  of  Man 
He  had  power  to  forgive  sins. 

Of  this  power  He  made  the  Apostles  partakers 
by  two  acts.  When,  after  saluting  all  who  were  pres- 
ent,* He  next  saluted  the  Apostles  f  and  breath- 
ing on  them,  said:  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost: 
whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted 
unto  them;  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they 
are  retained,"  X  He  thus  made  them  partakers  of 
the  ministerial  authority  He  received  at  His  bap- 
tism. When  according  to  His  promise  made  the 
Apostles,  that  they  should  be  endued  with  power 
from  on  high,  §  the  Holy  Spirit  descended  and 
abode  within  them  at  Pentecost,  He  then  made 
them  the  spiritual  agents  of  His  absolving  power. 

The  terms  in  which  their  commission  is  given 
are  comprehensive.  ||     It  was  not  a  mere  power 

*  S.  John  XX.  19.     f  V.  20.     X  V.  19,  21.     §  S.  Luke  xxiv.  49. 

I  "  The  pastors  of  the  Church  may  be  understood  to  remit  or 
retain  sin  in  divers  ways.  i.  They  remit  sins  dispositive,  by  work- 
ing in  persons  fit  dispositions,  upon  which  remission  of  sins,  by 
God's  promise,  is  consequent ;  the  dispositions  of  faith  and  re- 
pentance. 2.  They  remit  (or  retain)  sins  declarative,  as  the  am- 
bassadors of  God,  in  His  name  pronouncing  the  word  of  recon- 
ciliation to  the  penitent,  and  denouncing  wrath  to  the  obstinate 
in  sin.     3.  They  remit  sins  impetrative,  obtaining  pardon  for  sins 


UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE.     235 

to  remove  Church  censures.  **  I  cannot,"  says 
Maurice,  "  in  any  case  read  *  punishment '  where 
I  find  '  sin  '  written.  I  must  regard  remission  of 
punishment  as  a  very  poor  and  miserable  sub- 
stitute for  remission  of  sins."  *  Also  it  was  not, 
says  Bishop  Andrewes,  *'  a  personal  privilege  to 
be  in  them  and  to  die  with  them,  that  they 
should  only  execute  it  for  a  time,  and  none  ever 
after  them.  God  forbid  we  should  so  think  it."  f 
It  was  a  power  to  be  exercised  by  the  priesthood 
throughout  all  time. 

The  laity  have  their  share  in  the  priesthood 
and  exercise  it  by  interceding  for  one  another 
and  forgiving  injuries  done  to  themselves;  but 
the  Priest  speaks  for  Christ  and  absolves  from  sin 
as  against  God.  It  is  not  a  mere  declaration 
that  God  will  forgive  or  for  Christ's  sake  has  for- 
given, but  a  communication  of  grace.  When  the 
Puritans  at  the  Savoy  Conference  asked,  "that 
the  form  of  absolution  be  declarative  and  con- 
ditional, as  '  I  pronounce  thee  absolved,'  instead  of 
'/  absolve  thee,'  the  Bishops  replied :  '  The  form 
of  absolution  in  the  Liturgy  is  more  agreeable  to 

by  their  prayers.  4.  They  remit  sins  dispensative^  by  consigning 
pardon  in  administration  of  the  Sacraments,  especially  in  conferring 
Baptism,  whereby,  duly  administered  and  undertaken,  all  sins  are 
washed  away,  and  in  the  absolving  of  penitents." — Dr.  Isaac 
Barrow  :  Power  of  the  Keys,  Works,  vii.,  365. 

*  Maurice  :    The  Gospel  of  St.  John,  p.  456. 

f  Andrewes:  Sermon  on  Absolution,  Works,  v.,  91. 


236     UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE. 

the  Scriptures  than  that  which  they  desire,  it 
being  said  in  S.  John  xx.,  "  Whose  sins  you  remit, 
they  are  remitted,"  not  "  Whose  sins  you  pro- 
nounce remitted."  '  "  *  So  our  Church  has  ever 
held  and  taught. 

The  form  for  personal  absolution  given  in  the 
Ejiglish  Prayer-Book,  from  which  ours  has  not 
departed  in  doctrine,  is :  "  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  hath  left  power  to  His  Church  to  absolve 
all  sinners  who  truly  repent  and  believe  in  Him, 
of  His  great  mercy  forgive  thee  thine  offences: 
and  by  His  authority  committed  unto  me,  I 
absolve  thee  from  all  thy  sins,  In  the  Name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.     Amen." 

This  is  the  teaching  of  the  Word  of  God  and 
of  our  Church  on  Absolution,  f 

The  second  thought  I  bring  you  is  this.  It  is 
by  all  admitted  that  the  baptized  soul  by  griev- 
ous sin  or  habit  of  sin  may  be  rightly  cut  off 
from  the  body  of  Christ  and  become  excommu- 
nicate. To  be  by  sin  in  this  sad  condition  is  to 
be  outside  the  Ark.  How  can  we  be  reunited 
to  Christ  and  restored  to  our  covenanted  privi- 
leges ?  The  regularly  ordained  way  as  our 
XXXIII  Article  declares  is  by  "  Penance."  In 
the  early  Church  this   was   public.     Now   it  is 

*Cardwell  :  Conferences,  3d  ed.,  Oxford,  1849,  PP*  332.  361. 
f  See  Appendix. 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE.     237 

rarely  so  and  is  privately  administered.*  And 
note  that  the  d'eclarations  of  absolution  in  Morn- 
ing and  Evening  prayer  are  not  a  judicial  exercise 
of  the  power  of  the  keys.  They  have  their  place. 
They  do  a  work.  They  avail  to  the  cleansing  of 
imperfections  and  minor  transgressions  and  are 
part  of  that  perpetual  cleansing  and  advancing 
purification  Christ  is  ever  bestowing  on  the  faith- 
ful. But  they  are  parts  of  offices  of  the  Church, 
said  by  the  Church,  and  properly  avail  for  those 
in  the  body  and  not  for  those  out  of  it  as  the  ex- 
communicate are. 

The  regularly  ordained  way  by  which  the  ex- 
communicate may  be  restored  on  repentance  to 
their  former  estate,  is  by  the  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation. 

Nor  is  it  those  only  who  are  excommunicate 
formally  or  de  facto  or  who  are  under  sentence  of 
death  who  may  avail  themselves  of  this  privilege. 
All  souls  distressed  by  the  burden  of  sin  and  who 
cannot  quiet  their  own  conscience,  be  the  burden 
what  it  may,  are  lovingly  invited  by  the  Priest 
in  the  words  of  the  English  Prayer-Book,  "to 
come  to  me  or  to  some  other  minister  of  God's 
word  and  open  their  grief  that  they  may  receive 
the  benefit  of  absolution." 

Not  once  in  fifty  years  do  the  silver  trumpets 
of   the  jubilee  sound,  but  perpetually  do  they 

*  See  Rubric  Visitations  of  Prisoners. 


238     UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE. 

proclaim  under  the  Gospel  the  proffered  restora- 
tion of  our  lost  estate. 

In  conclusion,  dear  brethren,  let  me  say  a  word 
to  you  on  the  general  subject  of  the  confession 
of  our  sins  to  God  in  the  presence  of  a  Priest. 
There  is  a  technical  and  disputatious  way  of  re- 
garding it  and  a  devotional  and  common-sense 
one.  For  most  persons  at  some  times  in  their 
lives  do  I  believe  it  will  be  found  helpful,  but  the 
thought  I  would  leave  you  to-night,  and  espe- 
cially I  address  myself  to  the  gentlemen  here 
present,  is,  that  such  a  confession  is,  for  the  loyal 
churchman  and  the  noble-minded  man,  the  way 
of  honor.  Sometimes  souls  resort  to  confession 
because  they  desire  to  have  that  same  absolving 
word  Christ  spoke  to  penitents :  "  '  Son,'  '  daugh- 
ter,' thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee.  Go  in  peace," 
said  personally  to  themselves.  They  want  not 
to  be  left  concerning  their  acceptance  to  the 
uncertainty  of  their  own  varying  feelings,  but  to 
possess  the  pledged  assurance  Christ  left  in  the 
Gospel.  They  come  again  not  merely  to  know 
they  are  forgiven  but  for  the  larger  grace  that 
absolution  gives,  the  healing  of  the  wounds  of  sin 
and  the  fortifying  of  the  soul  against  future 
temptation.  But  these  motives  spring  from  self 
and  our  own  needs.  There  is  a  further  and  more 
constraining  motive  which  affects  us  men.  It  is 
the  motive  of  honor.  Whenever  in  heat  of  temper 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE.     239 

by  word  or  act  you  have  wronged  another,  you 
feel  your  own  manhood  stained  until  you  have 
by  an  apology  made  reparation.  And  by  your 
code  of  honor  you  make  the  reparation,  privately 
or  publicly,  according  as  your  insult  has  been  a 
public  or  private  one  and  proportionate  to  its 
character.  Now  as  conscientious  Christians  we 
must  acknowledge  the  difference  between  our  sins 
and  those  of  old  time.  We  have  sinned  after  that 
God  by  becoming  Incarnate  has  shown  us  in  the 
crucifixion  how  sin  stabs  His  heart.  We  have 
sinned  not  against  the  invisible  God  as  Patriarchs 
and  Jews  did,  but  against  Christ  the  Son  of  Man. 
And  honor  demands  that  our  acknowledging  act 
of  reparation  should  be  made  not  to  the  invisible 
God  but  to  Jesus  Christ,  and  since  it  cannot  be 
made  to  God  visible  in  the  flesh,  should  be  made 
to  the  visible  man  or  Priest  who  represents 
Him.  This  is  the  way  of  honor,  and  the  way  of 
honor  is  the  manly  and  ennobling  way  and  the 
way  of  peace. 

This  is  man's  side  of  confession,  but  then  there 
is  Christ's  side.  He  loves  to  forgive.  He  loves 
to  renew  His  forgiveness  to  the  increasing  purifi- 
cation of  the  soul.  For  Christian  repentance  and 
Christ's  forgiveness  are  progressive. 

You  have  been  forgiven.  Christ  has  touched 
your  heart.  It  may  be  years  ago.  You  feel  you 
are    His.     You    are    walking   with    Him.     The 


240     UNCTION,  MATRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE. 

power  of  sin  has  been  broken.  You  know  His 
love  and  peace.  But  with  your  advance  there 
is  an  ever-abiding  sorrow  for  forgiven  sin  and  a 
deepening  sense  of  sin's  enormity,  of  your  sinful- 
ness and  your  ingratitude.  You  understand  why 
the  Church  at  every  Communion  would  have  us 
say  of  our  sins,  "  the  burden  of  them  is  intolera- 
ble." This  deepening  sense  of  sin  has  its  parallel 
in  common  life.  The  child  sins  against  its  par- 
ents, it  repents  and  is  forgiven.  The  long  years 
go  on.  The  child  grows  up  and  has  children  of 
its  own.  It  realizes  what  a  father's  or  mother's 
love  is.  And  as  the  hairs  of  that  dear  head  are 
whitening  and  the  step  becomes  feeble  and  the 
hour  of  departure  may  be  at  hand,  the  loving 
heart  tells  again  its  old  childish  transgression  and 
asks  anew  for  the  word  of  forgiveness.  "  You  are 
quite  sure  you  have  forgiven  me  all  that  ?  '*  "  Why 
my  child,"  says  the  dear  old  saint,  ''  I  forgave 
you  that  long  ago."  "Yes,  dear  mother  or 
father,  but  I  just  wanted  to  hear  you  say  it  again, 
when  I  know  now  as  never  before  the  pain  I 
must  have  given."  And  the  kiss  tells  more  than 
of  forgiveness,  it  tells  of  undying  and  eternal 
union  in  love.  And  so  the  soul  increasing  in 
holiness,  increasingly  realizes  Christ's  sorrow  and 
love,  and  takes  up  the  loving  plaint  of  forgiven 
David,  "  Wash  me  more  and  more  from  my  wick- 
edness, and  cleanse  me  from  my  sin." 


UNCTION,  MA  TRIMONY,  AND  PENANCE.     241 

And  on  His  side,  oh,  remember  how  Christ 
loves  to  forgive,  to  cleanse,  to  purify,  to  adorn, 
to  perfect  the  soul  by  His  perpetual  absolutions. 

No  mother  loves  to  adorn  and  deck  her  child 
as  Christ  loves  to  beautify  the  soul.  The  more 
He  sees  the  likeness  of  Himself  in  any  soul,  the 
more  He  loves  it  and  desires  to  make  it  yet  more 
worthy  of  His  love.  His  patience  is  never 
wearied.  His  grace  is  never  exhausted.  Every 
act  of  trust  gladdens  His  heart.  Every  resort 
to  the  ministries  of  His  grace  baffles  His  foes. 
If  we  have  caused  that  Sacred  Heart  to  grieve  by 
our  sins,  our  neglects,  our  shortcomings,  our 
waste  of  grace,  let  us  by  a  sorrow  after  a  godly 
sort,  by  clearing  of  ourselves  by  indignation,  by 
vehement  desire,  by  zeal,  yea  by  revenge  taken 
upon  ourselves,  make  it  rejoice.  The  power  of 
absolution  is  inherent  in  every  priest,  the  privilege 
of  using  that  gift  is  the  right  of  every  penitent 
soul. 


APPENDIX. 

Confession  and  Absolution. 

The  controversies  that  have  raged  about  this  subject  in 
the  past,  and  the  differences  of  opinion  about  it  which  ex- 
ist in  the  Church  at  the  present  time,  will  be  found  on  ex- 
amination to  be  superficial  rather  than  fundamental ;  that 
is  to  say,  there  is  not  so  much  dispute  in  regard  to  the 
position  of  the  Church,  which  is  sufficiently  clear,  as  there 
is  in  regard  on  the  one  hand  to  the  Roman  practice  of 
compulsory  confession,  and  on  the  other  to  the  Protestant 
practice  of  no  confession  at  all.  The  contest  has  been 
largely  between  those  who  advocate  these  different  prac- 
tices on  various  grounds  which  are  aside  from  the  teaching 
of  the  Church. 

In  the  notes  that  follow  authorities  are  collected  to 
show  what  the  Church's  position  is.  When  this  is  seen, 
the  controversy  really  ceases  to  be  a  practical  one,  and 
becomes  merely  an  academic  debate  between  two  conten- 
tions which  are  both  outside  of  the  Church. 

These  authorities  are  grouped  in  three  divisions:  i,  the 
legislation  of  the  Church  as  expressed  in  formularies 
and  canons;  2,  the  teaching  and  practice  of  the  Church, 
as  exhibited  in  (a)  visitation  articles  of  Bishops  and  (d) 
writings  of  eminent  divines. 

/.  THE  LEGISLATION  OF  THE  CHURCH  AS  EX- 
PRESSED IN  FORMULARIES  AND  CANONS. 

"  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  office  and  work  of  a 
Priest  in  the  Church  of  God,  now  committed  unto  thee 
by  the  imposition  of  our  hands.     Whose  sins  thou  dost 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION.  243 

forgive,  they  are  forgiven ;  and  whose  sins  thou  dost  re- 
tain, they  are  retained.  And  be  thou  a  faithful  dispenser 
of  the  Word  of  God,  and  of  His  holy  Sacraments ;  In  the 
Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Amen."  {Book  of  Common  Prayer,  Form  and 
Manner  of  Ordainmg  Priests.']  Such  are  the  solemn  and 
awful  words  of  the  Ordinal  pronounced  by  the  Bishop  as 
he  places  his  hands  on  the  head  of  the  candidate  whom 
by  that  declaration  and  act  he  advances  to  the  Priesthood. 
Although  it  is  God  alone  who  forgives  sins,  yet  He  for- 
gives them  by  His  ministers  who  have  received  the  power 
of  absolution  through  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  the  Preface  to  the  American  Prayer-Book  we  read  : 
"  That  this  Church  is  far  from  intending  to  depart  from 
the  Church  of  England  in  any  essential  point  of  doctrine, 
discipline,  or  worship,  or  further  than  local  circumstances 
require."  In  the  English  Book  the  intending  communi- 
cant "  who  cannot  quiet  his  own  conscience  "  is  bidden  to 
go  to  his  parish  priest,  "  or  to  some  other  discreet  and 
learned*  minister  of  God's  holy  Word  and  open  his  grief ; 
that  by  the  Ministry  of  God's  Holy  Word  he  may  receive 
the  benefit  of  absolution  together  with  ghostly  counsel 
and  advice  to  the  quieting  of  his  own  conscience  and 
avoiding  of  all  scruple  and  doubtfulness."  And  in  the 
American  Book,  "  Let  him  come  to  me  or  to  some  other 


*"  Discreet "  and  "learned"  are  both  technical  terms  well 
known  to  the  Canon  Law,  and  mean  approved  by  the  Bishop  as 
learned  and  discreet,  that  is,  trained  in  moral  divinity  and  other- 
wise fitted  for  the  office  of  confessor.  "  It  is  not  allowed  to  any 
Greek  Priest  to  act  as  confessor,  but  only  to  discreet  persons,  ad- 
vanced in  years,  to  whom  a  faculty  for  that  purpose  is  given  by 
the  Bishop  to  whom  they  are  subject."  Smith's  Ecc.  Grcec.  Oxf, 
1676,/.  115. 


244  APPENDIX, 

Minister  of  God's  Word  and  open  his  grief,  that  he  may 
receive  such  godly  counsel  and  advice  as  may  tend  to  the 
quieting  of  his  conscience  and  the  removing  of  all  scruple 
and  doubtfulness." 

In  the  Office  for  the  Visitation  of  the  Sick  in  the  Eng- 
lish Prayer-Book  the  Priest  is  ordered  to  move  the  sick 
person  "to  make  a  special  confession  of  his  sins,"  after 
which  he  is  directed  to  absolve  him  in  these  words,  "Our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  left  power  to  His  Church  to 
absolve  all  sinners  who  truly  repent  and  believe  in  Him, 
of  His  great  mercy  forgive  thee  thine  offences.  And  by 
His  authority  committed  to  me  I  absolve  thee  from  all 
thy  sins,  in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Amen." 

In  the  American  Book  in  the  Office  for  the  Visitation 
of  Prisoners,  the  Priest  is  directed  to  exhort  the  prisoner 
"  to  a  particular  confession  of  the  sin  for  which  he  is  con- 
demned," and  after  the  confession  has  been  made  "to 
declare  to  him  the  pardoning  mercy  of  God  in  the  form 
which  is  used  in  the  Communion  Service." 

In  the  Canons  of  1603  the  regular  practice  of  confession 
is  taken  for  granted.  The  113th  Canon  enjoins  secrecy 
on  the  Minister*  in  respect  to  all  confessions  confided  to 
him,  in  these  terms:  "  Provided  always,  that  if  any  man 
confess  his  secret  and  hidden  sins  to  the  Minister,  for 
the  unburthening  of  his  conscience,  and  to  receive  spirit- 
ual consolation  and  ease  of  mind  from  him,  we  do  not  in 

*  Before  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth  the  term  Minister  was 
used  as  equivalent  to  Priest,  but  during  that  period  became  per- 
verted from  its  original  meaning.  Accordingly  the  Bishops  at  the 
Savoy  Conference,  in  revising  the  Prayer-Book  substituted  the 
word  Priest  for  that  of  Minister  in  the  Rubric  before  the  Absolu- 
tion so  as  to  preclude  Deacons. 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION.  245 

any  way  bind  the  said  Minister  by  this  our  Constitution, 
but  do  straitly  charge  and  admonish  him,  that  he  do  not 
at  any  time  reveal  or  make  known  to  any  person  whatso- 
ever, any  crime  or  offence  so  committed  to  his  trust  and 
secrecy  (except  they  be  such  crimes  as  by  the  Laws  of  this 
Realm  his  own  life  may  be  called  in  question  for  conceal- 
ing the  same),  under  pain  of  irregularity."*  The  Annotated 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  John  Blunt,  D.D.,  Revised  and  En- 
larged  Edition,  p.  446. 

In  1634  Canons  modelled  on  the  English  enactments 
were  introduced  into  Ireland.  They  were  drawn  up  by 
Bishop  Bramhall  and  approved  by  Archbishop  Ussher,  the 
Primate.  Canon  XIX  orders  that  "  The  Minister  of  every 
parish,  and  in  Collegiate  and  Cathedral  Churches  some 
principal  Minister  of  the  Church,  shall,  the  afternoon  be- 
fore the  said  administration  "  [of  the  Holy  Communion], 
"give  warning,  by  the  tolling  of  the  bell,  or  otherwise,  to 
the  intent  that  if  any  have  any  scruple  of  conscience, 
or  desire  the  special  Ministry  of  reconciliation,  he  may 
afford  it  to  those  who  need  it.  And  to  this  end  the  peo- 
ple are  often  to  be  exhorted  to  enter  into  a  special  exam- 
ination of  their  own  souls;  and  that,  finding  themselves 
either  extremely  dull,  or  so  much  troubled  in  mind,  they 
do  resort  unto  God's  Ministers  to  receive  from  them  as 
well  advice  and  counsel  for  the  quickening  of  their  dead 
hearts  and  the  subduing  of  those  corruptions  whereunto 
they  have  been  subject,  as  the  benefit  of  absolution  like- 


*  "  In  Ecclesiastical  Law  '  irregularity'  means  deprivation,  ac- 
companied by  a  perpetual  incapacity  for  taking  any  benefice  what- 
ever. It  is  the  severest  punishment  which  can  be  inflicted  on  a 
Clergyman  under  the  Canon  Law,  short  of  degradation  from  his 
Orders."  The  Annotated  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  note  2,  p. 
446. 


246  APPENDIX. 

wise,  for  the  quieting  of  their  consciences,  by  the  power 
of  the  Keys  which  Christ  has  committed  to  His  Ministers 
for  that  purpose."      Wilkins  Concilia,  torn,  iv.,  p.  501. 

In  1635  Canons  were  sent  up  by  the  Scottish  Bishops  to 
Charles  I  for  approval,  and  were  revised  by  Laud  and 
Juxon.  Among  these  was  the  following :  "Albeit  Sacra- 
mental Confession  and  Absolution  have  been  in  some 
places  very  much  abused;  yet  if  any  of  the  people  be 
grieved  in  mind  for  any  delict  or  offence  committed,  and 
for  the  unburthening  of  his  conscience  confess  the  same 
to  the  Bishop  or  Presbyter ;  they  shall,  as  they  are  bound, 
minister  to  the  person  so  confessing  all  spiritual  consola- 
tions out  of  the  Word  of  God ;  and  shall  not  deny  him 
the  benefit  of  Absolution  after  the  manner  which  is  pre- 
scribed in  the  Visitation  of  the  Sick,  if  the  party  show 
himself  truly  penitent,  and  humbly  desire  to  be  absolved." 
"  The  Church  and  the  World"  1876,^.  210.  Revd.J.  C. 
Chambers. 

To  this  may  be  added  also  the  testimony  of  the  Homi- 
lies of  which  the  Thirty-fifth  Article  of  Religion  speaks 
in  these  terms  :  "  The  second  Book  of  Homilies,  the  sev- 
eral titles  whereof  we  have  joined  under  this  Article,  doth 
contain  a  godly  and  wholesome  Doctrine,  and  necessary 
for  these  times,  as  doth  the  former  Book  of  Homilies, 
which  were  set  forth  in  the  time  of  Edward  the  Sixth; 
and  therefore  we  judge  them  to  be  read  in  Churches  by 
the  Ministers,  diligently  and  distinctly,  that  they  may  be 
understanded  of  the  people." 

In  the  Homily  on  "  Common  Prayer  and  Sacraments," 
p.  376,  we  are  told  that  "Absolution  hath  the  promise 
of  forgiveness  of  sins,"  and  in  that  on  "Repentance  and 
a  true  Reconciliation  unto  God,"  p.  577,  we  read :  "  I  do 
not  say  but  that,  if  any  do  find  themselves  troubled  in 


CONFESSrOAF  AND  ABSOLUTION  247 

conscience,  they  may  repair  to  their  learned  curate  or 
pastor,  or  to  some  other  godly  learned  man,  and  show  the 
trouble  and  doubt  of  their  conscience  to  them,  that  they 
may  receive  at  their  hand  the  comfortable  salve  of  God's 
Word." 


//.    TEACHING  AND  PRACTICE  OF  THE 
CHURCH  AS  EXHIBITED  IN 

(a)   VISITATION   ARTICLES   OF  BISHOPS. 

In  1567  Archbishop  Parker  in  his  Visitation  articles 
directs:  "VI  item.  You  shall  enquire  of  the  doctrine  and 
judgment  of  all  and  singular  hedd  and  members  of  your 
Church  .  .  .  whether  any  of  them  do  either  privalie  or 
openlie  preach  or  teach  any  unwholesome,  erroneous,  sedi- 
tious doctrine  ...  or  in  other  point  do  perswade  or 
move  any  not  to  conform  themselves  to  the  order  of  reli- 
gion, reformed,  restored,  and  received  by  public  authority 
in  the  Church  of  England.  As  for  example  .  .  .  that 
every  article  in  our  crede,  commonly  received  and  used 
in  the  Church  is  not  to  be  received  of  necessity ;  or  that 

MORTAL  OR  VOLUNTARY  SINS,  COMMITTED  AFTER  BAP- 
TISM, BE  NOT  REMISSABLE  BY  PENANCE."  Wilkins  Con- 
cilia, torn.  iv.,p.  253. 

Bishop  Overall,  the  author  of  the  section  of  the  Church 
Catechism  which  treats  of  the  Sacraments,  in  the  ist 
Article  of  his  Visitation  in  1619  asks:  "Whether  doth 
your  Minister  before  the  several  times  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper,  admonish  and  exhort  his 
parishioners  if  they  have  their  consciences  troubled  and 
disquieted,  to  resort  unto  him,  or  some  other  learned 
Minister,  and  open  his  grief,  that  he  may  receive  such 
ghostly  counsel  and  comfort  as  his  conscience  may  be  re- 


248  APPENDIX. 

lieved,  and  by  the  Minister  he  may  receive  the  benefit  of 
Absolution,  to  the  quiet  of  his  conscience  and  avoiding 
of  scruple.  And  if  any  man  confess  his  secret  and  hidden 
sins,  be  he  sick  or  whole,  to  the  Minister,  for  the  unbur- 
thening  of  his  conscience,  and  receiving  such  spiritual 
consolation,  doth  or  hath  the  said  Minister  at  any  time 
revealed  and  made  known  to  any  person  whomsoever  any 
crime  or  offence  so  committed  to  his  trust,  contrary  to 
the  1 1 3th  Canon  ?  "  Second  Report  of  the  Commissioners  on 
Rubrics,  p.  483. 

In  1625  Lancelot  Andrewes,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
makes  the  same  inquiry  in  the  same  words.  Second  Report 
of  the  Commissioners  07t  Rubrics,  1868,/.  494. 

In  1636  Bishop  Dee  of  Peterborough  inquires:  "  Doth 
your  Minister  .  .  .  commonly  premonish  his  Parishioners, 
if  they  be  troubled  in  conscience,  to  confess,  and  open 
their  grief  to  him,  that  they  may  receive  the  benefit  of  ab- 
solution ?  "  "  The  Doctrine  of  Absolutio7t,"  Maskell,  p.  1 37, 
note. 

In  the  same  year  Bishop  Wren  of  Norwich  asks: 
"  Whether  your  Minister  before  the  several  times  of  the 
administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  admonish  and  exhort 
his  Parishioners,  if  any  of  them  have  their  consciences 
troubled  and  disquieted,  to  resort  to  him,  or  to  some  other 
learned  Minister,  and  open  their  grief  that  they  may  re- 
ceive the  benefit  of  Absolution  ?  And  if  any  man  con- 
fess his  secret  and  hidden  sins,  being  sick  or  whole,  to  the 
Minister,  for  the  unburthening  of  his  conscience,  and  re- 
ceiving of  spiritual  consolation  or  ease  of  mind  from  him, 
doth  he  the  said  Minister  .  .  .  ever  reveal  or  make  known 
to  any  person  whatever,  any  crime  or  offence,  so  committed 
to  his  trust  and  secrecy?  "    Second  Report,  etc.,  1868,/.  560. 

In  his  Visitation  Articles  in  1638  Bishop  Montague  in- 
quires: "  Doth  he  "  (the  Minister)  "  comfort  the  sick  per- 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION.  249 

son  as  concerning  his  soul's  health,  his  state  to  God  ward  ? 
Doth  he  upon  hearing  his  confession,  which  he  shall  per- 
suade him  to  make,  absolve  him  from  all  his  sins,  settle 
his  faith,  affiance,  and  confidence  in  God  ?  And  hath  he 
at  any  time  discovered  any  part  of  his  confession  ? 

"  Doth  he  especially  exhort  his  parishioners  to  make 
confession  of  their  sins  to  himself  or  some  other  learned, 
grave,  and  discreet  Minister,  especially  in  Lent  against 
that  holy  time  of  Easter  ;  and  that  they  may  receive  com- 
fort and  absolution,  and  so  become  worthy  receivers  of 
such  sacred  mysteries?"     Second  Report,  etc.,  i86S,p.  583. 

And  in  the  same  year  Bishop  Duppa  of  Peterborough 
asks:  "  Hath  your  Minister  at  any  time  revealed  the  con- 
fession of  any  made  to  him  in  secret,  contrary  to  the  1 13th 
Canon,  and  so  hath  brought  a  scandal  upon  the  ancient 
Remedy  of  sin  and  sinners  ?  "     Second  Report,  etc.,  1868, 

P-  577. 

In  1640  Bishop  Juxon  of  London  makes  the  same  in- 
quiry in  substantially  the  same  language.  Second  Report, 
etc.,  1868,  p.  591.  As  do  also  Bishops  Gunning  of  Ely  in 
1678  {Second  Report,  etc.,  1868,  p.  648),  Fuller  of  Lincoln 
in  1668  {Second  Report,  etc.,  1868,  _^.  635),  Turner  of  Ely  in 
1686  ("  The  Doctrme  of  Absolution,"  Maskell,  p.  137,  7iote^, 
Fleetwood  of  St.  Asaph  in  1710  {Second  Report,  etc.,  1868, 
p.  667),  and  many  others. 

"It  has  been  shown  that  in  the  diocese  of  Norwich 
(there  was  no  reason  for  selecting  this  diocese  for  investi- 
gation, except  that  the  gentleman  who  made  it  is  an  in- 
cumbent there)  since  the  Reformation  the  majority  of  the 
Bishops  have  at  their  Visitations  made  inquiries  concern- 
ing Confession  which  implied  both  its  practice  and  its 
use."  ''A  Contribution  to  the  Cause  of  Christian  Unity," 
O'Neill,  p.  d>g. 

In  the  year  1640  Convocation  ordered  that  at  all  Epis- 


25©  APPENDIX. 

copal  and  Archidiaconal  Visitations  the  following  inquiry 
should  be  made  of  all  Church  Wardens :  "  Have  you  ever 
heard  that  your  said  Priest  or  Minister  hath  revealed  and 
made  known  at  any  time  to  any  person  whatsoever  any 
crime  or  offence  committed  to  his  trust  and  secrecy,  either 
in  extremes  of  sickness,  or  in  other  case  whatsoever  .  .  . 
Declare  the  name  of  the  offender  when  and  by  whom  you 
heard  the  same."    Heylin  on  the  Creed, p.  486. 

This  laid  down  a  general  rule  by  which  all  Diocesans  in 
the  future  were  to  be  governed. 

Coming  down  to  our  own  times,  Bishop  Hamilton  of 
Salisbury,  who  died  in  1869,  in  one  of  his  charges  speaks 
thus  :  "  If  with  the  Homily,  you  ever  speak  of  Absolution 
and  Confession  as  a  Sacrament,  you  must  indicate  this 
distinction  of  your  Church  ;  and  you  maybe  thankful  that 
through  this  very  distinction,  you  are  the  more  free  to  in- 
sist upon  the  Penitents  having  those  dispositions,  which 
are  the  necessary  qualifications  for  Absolution,  and  to 
warn  persons  against  the  exceeding  peril  of  profaning  that 
holy  ordinance,  and  so  of  bringing  upon  their  souls  the 
guilt  of  sacrilege.  At  the  time  of  the  Reformation  such 
guilt  was,  it  is  said,  very  frequently  incurred ;  and  I  ques- 
tion not  that  our  Reformers  were  glad  to  find  themselves 
justified  in  making  the  question  of  confession  one  less  of 
obligation  than  of  the  claims  and  privileges  of  an  awak- 
ened conscience."  Power  of  the  Priesthood  in  Absolution, 
Canon  Cooke,  p,  167,  2d  ed. 

(d)  WRITINGS  OF  EMINENT  DIVINES. 

In  the  Catechism  put  forth  by  the  authority  of  Arch- 
bishop Cranmer  in  the  year  1548,  and  dedicated  by  him 
to  Edward  VI,  we  read  :  "  Now  God  doth  not  speak  to 
us  with  a  Voice  sounding  out  of  heaven ;  but  He  hath 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION  251 

given  the  keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  and  the 
authority  to  forgive  sin  to  the  ministers  of  the  Church. 
Wherefore  let  him  that  is  a  sinner  go  to  one  of  them. 
Let  him  knowledge  and  confess  his  sin,  and  pray  him 
that,  according  to  God's  commandments,  he  will  give 
him  absolution,  and  comfort  him  with  the  word  of  grace 
and  forgiveness  of  his  sins."  Short  Instruction  into 
Christian  Religion.     Oxford,  1829,^.  202. 

Latimer  says  :  "  To  speak  of  right  and  true  confession 
I  would  to  God  it  were  kept  in  England  ;  for  it  is  a  good 
thing."  Sermons  and  Remains  of  Hugh  Latimer,  p.  180, 
ed.  1844.  And  the  judicious  Hooker  affirms :  "  That  our 
Saviour  by  those  words,  '  Whose  sins  ye  remit  they  are 
remitted,'  did  ordain  judges  over  sinful  souls,  give  them 
authority  to  absolve  from  sin,  and  promise  to  ratify  in 
heaven  whatsoever  they  should  do  on  earth  in  execution 
of  this  their  office."  Ecclesiastical  Polity,  Book  vi.,  C.  vi., 
3,/.  486.     Ox.,  1848. 

Bishop  Jewel,  who  died  in  1 571,  states :  "  The  difference 
between  us  and  our  adversaries  on  the  whole  matter  is 
not  great :  .  .  .  Three  kinds  of  confession  are  expressed 
unto  us  in  the  Scriptures.  The  first  made  secretely  unto 
God  alone :  the  second  openly  before  the  whole  congre- 
gation :  the  third  privately  unto  our  brother.  Of  the  two 
former  kinds  there  is  no  question.  Touching  the  third  if 
it  be  discreetly  used,  to  the  greater  comfort  and  satisfac- 
tion of  the  penitent  without  superstition  or  other  ill,  it  is 
not  in  any  wise  by  us  reproved.  .  .  .  Thus  much  only  we 
say,  that  private  confession  to  be  made  unto  the  Minister 
is  neither  commanded  by  Christ  nor  necessary  to  salva- 
tion." Defence  of  the  Apology,  Part  II.,  C.  vi.,  Div.  I. 
Works,  vol.  iv.,p.\Z6.     Ox.,  1848. 

George  Herbert  (died  1632),  in  his  "Priest  to  the  Tem- 
ple," writes:   "In  his  visiting  the  sick  or  otherwise  af- 


252  APPENDIX. 

flicted  he  followeth  the  Church's  counsel,  namely,  in  per- 
suading them  to  particular  confession  ;  labouring  to  make 
them  understand  the  great  good  use  of  this  ancient  and 
pious  ordinance,  and  how  necessary  it  is  in  some  cases." 
The  Parson  Co77tforting,  chap,  xv.,  vol.  i.,  p.  i86. 

Dr.  Donne,  Dean  of  Saint  Paul's,  whose  life  has  been 
written  by  Isaak  Walton,  the  Angler,  and  whom  De 
Quincey  has  described  in  his  essay  on  Casuistry,*  as  "  one 
of  the  subtlest  intellects  that  England  has  produced," 
writes :  "  Confiteor  Domino,  says  David,  I  will  confess  my 
sins  to  the  Lord ;  sins  are  not  confessed  if  they  be  not 
confessed  to  Him,  in  case  of  necessity  it  will  suffice, 
though  they  be  confessed  to  no  other.  Indeed  a  confes- 
sion is  directed  upon  God,  though  it  be  made  to  His  Min- 
ister: if  God  had  appointed  His  angels  or  His  saints  to 
absolve  me,  as  He  hath  His  Ministers,  I  would  confess 
to  them.  .  .  .  Men  come  not  willingly  to  this  manifesta- 
tion of  themselves,  nor  are  they  to  be  brought  in  chains, 
as  they  do  in  the  Roman  Church,  by  a  necessity  of  an 
exact  enumeration  of  all  their  sins,  but  to  be  led  with  that 
sweetness  with  which  our  Church  proceeds,  in  appointing 
sick  persons,  if  they  feel  their  consciences  troubled  with 
any  weighty  matter  to  make  a  special  confession,  and  to 
receive  absolution  at  the  hands  of  the  priest :  and  then 
we  are  to  remember  that  every  coming  to  the  Communion 
is  as  serious  a  thing  as  our  own  transmigration  out  of 
the  world,  and  we  should  do  as  much  here  for  the  settling 
of  our  consciences  as  upon  our  death-bed."  Sermons,  Ivi., 
vol.  a., p.  563.      London,  1839. 

Dr.  Donne  was  born  and  brought  up  in  the  Roman 
Church  and  studied  for  the  ministry  in  that  Communion. 
He  was  converted  to  Anglicanism  before  middle  life.     He 

*De  Quincey's  Works,  vol.  vii.,  p.  276. 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION",  253 

was  as  remarkable  for  his  piety  as  he  was  distinguished 
by  his  ability  and  learning.     He  died  in  1632. 

Bishop  Montague,  who  died  in  1641,  writes :  "  It  is  con- 
fessed that  all  priests,  and  none  but  priests,  have  power  to 
forgive  sins;  it  is  confessed  that  private  confession  unto 
a  priest  is  of  very  ancient  practice  in  the  Church,  of  ex- 
cellent use  and  practice  being  discretely  handled.  We 
refuse  it  to  none  if  men  require  it,  if  need  be  to  have  it. 
We  urge  and  persuade  it  in  extremes ;  we  require  it  in 
cases  of  perplexity  for  the  quieting  of  men  disturbed  and 
their  consciences."     A  Gaggfor  the  New  Gospel,  etc.,  p.  83. 

The  author  of  "  The  Religion  of  Protestants  "  and  of  the 
famous  saying,  "  The  Bible  and  the  Bible  alone  is  the  re- 
ligion of  Protestants,"  writes  :  "  Since  Christ  for  your  ben- 
efit and  comfort  has  given  such  authority  to  His  Minis- 
ters, upon  your  unfeigned  repentance  and  confession,  to 
absolve  and  release  you  from  your  sins  .  .  .  therefore,  in 
obedience  to  His  gracious  will,  and  as  I  am  warranted, 
and  even  enjoined,  by  my  holy  mother,  the  Church  of 
England,  expressly,  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  in 
the  rubric  of  visiting  the  sick  (which  doctrine  this  Church 
hath  also  embraced  so  far),  I  beseech  you  that  by  your 
practice  and  use  you  will  not  suffer  that  commission 
which  Christ  has  given  to  His  Ministers  to  be  a  vain  form 
of  words  without  any  sense  under  them  ;  to  be  an  an- 
tiquated, expired  commission,  of  no  use  nor  validity  in 
these  days  ;  but  whensoever  you  find  yourself  charged  and 
oppressed,  especially  with  such  crimes  as  they  call  *  Pec- 
cata  vastantia  conscientiam,'  such  as  do  lay  waste  and 
depopulate  the  conscience,  that  you  have  recourse  to 
your  spiritual  physician,  and  freely  disclose  the  nature 
and  malignancy  of  your  disease,  that  he  may  be  able,  as 
the  cause  shall  require,  to  proportion  a  remedy,  either  to 
search  it  with  corrosives,  or  comfort  and  temper  it  with 


254  APPENDIX. 

oil.    And  come  not  to  him  only  with  such  a  mind 

AS  YOU  WOULD     GO  TO    A   LEARNED    MAN    EXPERIENCED 

IN  THE  Scripture,  as  one  that  can  speak  comfort- 
able, QUIETING  WORDS  TO  YOU,  BUT  AS  ONE  THAT  HATH 
AUTHORITY   DELEGATED  TO   HIM  FROM  GOD  HiMSELF  TO 

ABSOLVE  AND  ACQUIT  YOU  OF  YOUR  SINS."    Chillin^WOrtJlS 

Works,  vol.  ill.,  p.  206.     Lojidon,  1820,  Sermon  7. 

The  times  in  which  Chillingworth  lived  were  much  given 
to  controversy.  He  became  unsettled  in  his  views  while 
at  Oxford  and  was  finally  converted  to  Roman  Cathol- 
icism by  Fisher,  but  was  induced  by  Laud  to  return  from 
Douay,  whither  he  had  gone,  to  Oxford,  and  re-examine 
the  question.  This  resulted  in  his  return  to  his  old  alle- 
giance to  the  English  Church.  The  sermon,  quoted  from 
above,  was  preached  after  his  return.  Chillingworth  died 
in  1644. 

Bishop  Jeremy  Taylor  says,  speaking  of  confession:  "  It 
is  a  very  pious  preparation  to  the  Holy  Sacrament  that 
we  confess  our  sins  to  the  Minister  of  religion."  .  .  . 
Works,  vol.  IX.,  p.  299.     London,  1828. 

And  again  he  writes :  "  But  the  priest's  proper  power 
of  absolving  (which  is  in  no  case  communicable  to  any 
man  who  is  not  consecrated  to  the  Ministry)  is  a  giving 
the  penitent  the  means  of  eternal  pardon,  the  admitting 
him  to  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church,  and  the  peace  and 
communion  of  the  faithful ;  because  this  is  the  only  way 
really  to  obtain  pardon  of  God ;  there  being  in  ordinary 
no  way  to  heaven  but  by  serving  God  in  the  way  which 
He  hath  commanded  us  by  His  Son,  that  is,  in  the  way  of 
the  Church,  which  is  His  Body,  whereof  He  is  Prince  and 
Head."     Vol.  ix.,p.  258.     Jeremy  Taylor  died  in  1667. 

In  the  "  Guide  for  the  Penitent,"  p.  113,  London,  1761, 
written  either  by  Jeremy  Taylor  or  Bishop  Duppa,  and 
united  with  Taylor's  ''Golden  Grove,"  under  advice  concern- 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION.  255 

ing  Confession,  we  read:  "  That  besides  this  Examination 
of  your  conscience  which  may  be  done  in  secret  between 
God  and  your  own  soul,  there  is  great  use  of  Holy  Con- 
fession ;  which  though  it  be  not  generally  in  all  cases,  and 
peremptorily  commanded,  as  if  without  it  no  salvation 
could  possibly  be  had  ;  yet  you  are  advised  by  the  Church 
under  whose  discipline  you  live,  that  before  you  are  to 
receive  the  Holy  Sacrament  or  when  you  are  visited  with 
any  dangerous  sickness,  if  you  find  any  one  particular  sin, 
or  more,  that  lies  heavy  upon  you,  to  disburden  yourself 
of  it  into  the  bosom  of  your  Confessor,  who  not  only 
stands  between  God  and  you  to  pray  for  you,  but  hath 
the  power  of  the  Keys  committed  to  him,  upon  your  true 
repentance  to  absolve  you  in  Christ's  name  for  those  sins 
which  you  have  confessed  to  him." 

And  Bishop  Cosin,  who  took  the  leading  part  in  the  last 
revision  of  the  English  Prayer-Book  (1662),  in  his  ''Notes 
on  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer"  commenting  on  the  rubric 
in  the  Visitation  Office,  "  Here  shall  the  sick  person  be 
moved  to  make  a  special  confession,"  etc.,  writes  :  "  The 
Church  of  England,  howsoever  it  holdeth  not  Confession 
and  Absolution  Sacramental,  that  is,  made  unto  and  re- 
ceived from  a  Priest,  to  be  so  absolutely  necessary 

AS  THAT  WITHOUT   IT    THERE  CAN   BE  NO  REMISSION   OF 

SINS  ;  yet  by  this  place  it  is  manifest  what  she  teacheth 
concerning  the  virtue  and  force  of  this  sacred  action. 
The  Confession  is  commanded  to  be  special.  The  Abso- 
lution is  the  same  that  the  ancient  Church  and  the  pres- 
ent Church  of  Rome  useth.  .  .  .  Our  *  if  he  feel  his  con- 
science troubled  'is  no  more  than  his  'if  he  find  out  his 
sins '  ('  si  inveniat  peccata ') ;  for  if  he  be  not  troubled  with 
sin,  what  needs  either  Confession  or  Absolution  }  Venial 
sins  that  separate  not  from  the  grace  of  God  need  not  so 
much  to  trouble  a  man's  conscience.     If  he  hath  com- 


256  APPENDIX. 

mitted  any  mortal  sin  then  we  require  confession  of  it  to 
a  priest,  who  may  give  him  upon  his  true  contrition  and 
repentance  the  benefit  of  absolution,  which  takes  effect 
according  to  his  disposition  that  is  absolved.  .  .  .  The 
truth  is,  that  in  the  Priest's  absolution  there  is  the  true 
power  and  virtue  of  forgiveness,  which  will  most  certainly 
take  effect, '  unless  an  obstacle  is  imposed,'  as  in  Baptism." 
Attglo-CathoUc  Library.  Cosiiis  Works,  vol.  v.,  p.  163. 
Cosin  died  1672. 

Commenting  on  the  same  rubric  Dr.  John  Henry  Blunt 
in  "  The  Annotated  Book  of  Cotnmon  Prayer  "  p.  466,  re- 
vised and  enlarged  edition.  Button,  1884,  says:  "It  is 
plain  that  the  kind  of  Confession  named  in  the  Rubric  is 
that  which  is  commonly  known  as  'Auricular  Confession  ' ; 
for  although  privacy  is  not  enjoined,  it  is  quite  certain 
that  it  would  be  sought  both  by  Priest  and  penitent,  and 
that  without  it  the  Confession  would  most  likely  be  of  a 
very  general,  instead  of  a  '  special '  character.  That  it  is 
also  intended  to  be  private  or  '  auricular  ' — spoken  to  the 
ear  of  the  Priest  alone — is  shown  by  the  original  form  of 
the  Rubric  in  1549,  which  speaks  of 'all  private  confes- 
sions '  with  an  evidently  inclusive  sense — this  here  enjoined 
being  one  of  the  kind  included."  Blunt  died  only  a  few 
years  ago. 

Archbishop  Wake,  the  author  of  various  books  against 
the  errors  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  writes:  "The  Church 
of  England  refuses  no  sort  of  Confession  either  public  or 
private,  which  may  be  any  way  necessary  to  the  quieting 
of  men's  consciences,  or  to  the  exercise  of  that  power 
which  our  Saviour  Christ  has  left  to  His  Church. 

"  We  have  our  penitential  canon  for  public  offenders ; 
we  exhort  men,  if  they  have  the  least  doubt  or  scruple, 
nay  sometimes  though  they  have  none,  but  specially  be- 
fore they  receive  the  Holy  Sacrament  to  confess  their 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION.  257 

sins.  We  propose  to  them  the  benefit  not  only  of  ghostly 
advice  how  to  manage  their  repentance,  but  the  great 
comfort  of  absolution  too,  as  soon  as  they  have  completed 
it.  .  .  .  When  we  visit  our  sick,  we  never  fail  to  exhort 
them  to  make  a  special  confession  of  their  sins  to  him 
that  ministers  to  them  ;  and  when  they  have  done  it, 
their  absolution  is  so  full  that  the  Church  of  Rome  itself 
could  not  desire  to  add  anything  to  it."  Exposition  of 
the  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England,  in  Gibsons  Pre- 
servative against  Popery,  vol.  xii.,p.  107.  Archbishop  Wake 
died  1737. 

And  Wheatly  in  ''A  Rational  Illustration  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,"  p.  375,  in  his  dissertation  on  the  Visita- 
tion Office  says:  "And  therefore  the  Church  of  England  at 
the  Reformation,  in  the  particular  now  before  us,  freed  it 
from  all  encroachments  with  which  the  Church  of  Rome 
had  embarrassed  it,  and  reduced  confession  to  its  primitive 
plan.  She  neither  calls  it  a  Sacrament,  nor  requires  it  to 
be  used  as  universally  necessary ;  but  because  it  is  re- 
quisite THAT  NO  MAN  SHOULD  COME  TO  THE  HOLY  COM- 
MUNION, BUT  WITH  A  FULL  TRUST  IN  GOD'S  MERCY,  AND 
WITH  A  QUIET  CONSCIENCE;  SHE  THEREFORE  ADVISES, 
THAT  IF  THERE  BE  ANY  WHO  IS  NOT  ABLE  TO  QUIET  HIS 
OWN  CONSCIENCE,  BUT  REQUIRETH  FURTHER  COMFORT  OR 
COUNSEL,  HE  SHOULD  COME  TO  HIS  OWN,  OR  TO  SOME  OTHER 
DISCREET  AND  LEARNED  MINISTER  OF  GOD'S  WoRD, 
AND  OPEN   HIS  GRIEF,   THAT,  BY  THE  MINISTRY  OF  GOD'S 

HOLY  Word,  he  may  receive  the  benefit  of  absolu- 
tion, TOGETHER  WITH  GHOSTLY  COUNSEL  AND  ADVICE, 
TO  THE  QUIETING  OF  HIS  CONSCIENCE,  AND  AVOIDING  OF 
ALL  SCRUPLES  AND  DOUBTFULNESS. 

"  So  that  we  may  still,  I  presume,  wish  very  consistently 
with  the  determination  of  our  Church,  that  our  people 
would  apply  themselves  oftener  than  they  do  to  their 
17 


258  APPENDIX. 

spiritual  physicians,  even  in  the  time  of  their  health,  since 
it  is  much  to  be  feared  they  are  wounded  oftener  than 
they  complain,  and  yet,  through  aversion  of  disclosing 
their  sore,  suffer  it  to  gangrene  for  want  of  their  help  who 
should  work  the  cure."     Wheatly  died  in  1742. 

Wilson,  the  saintly  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man,  writes : 
"And  they  that  are  sick  and  have  any  faith  in  God's  Word, 
will,  as  St.  James  advises  send  for  the  Minister  of  God. 
that  he  may  pray  over  him,  that  he  may  examine  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  faith  and  his  repentance,  and  that,  if  he  is 
truly  penitent,  he  may  receive  absolution,  which  the  Spirit 
of  God  assures  him  shall  have  a  real  effect."  Anglo-Cath- 
olic  Library.  Wilsons  Works,  vol.  in., p.  416.  Bishop  Wil- 
son died  in  1755, 

Bishop  Harold  Browne  of  Winchester  says  in  his  "  Ex- 
position of  the  Thirty- Nine  Articles," p.  595,  Button,  1890  : 
"  Thus  the  Church  of  England  provides  for  all  troubled 
consciences  the  power  of  relieving  themselves,  by  making 
confession  of  guilt  to  their  pastor,  or  '  any  other  discreet 
and  learned  minister,'  and  so  gives  them  comfort  and 
counsel,  but  does  not  bind  every  one  of  necessity  to  re- 
hearse all  his  private  sins  to  man,  nor  elevate  such  useful 
confession  into  a  sacrament  essential  to  salvation." 

And  Bishop  Moberly  of  Salisbury,  the  immediate  prede- 
cessor of  the  present  Bishop,  writes :  "  We  have  still  the 
offer  (Oh !  that  we  would  think  of  it  more  readily,  and 
use  it  oftener)  of  the  benefit  of  Absolution,  together  with 
ghostly  counsel  and  advice,  to  the  quieting  of  the  Con- 
science."    "  The  Great  Forty  Days,"  p.  135. 

Sir  W.  Palmer  in  his  "  Treatise  on  the  Church  of  Christ,''' 
vol.  i.,p.  518,  2d  ed.,  London,  a  work  authorized  as  a  text- 
book in  seminaries  of  the  American  Church,  says:  "The 
practice  of  private  confession  to  priests,  and  absolution. 
she  never  abolished.  .  .  .  That  the  Church  did  not  mean 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION.  259 

to  abolish  Confession  and  Absolution  (which  she  even  re- 
gards as  a  sort  of  Sacrament)  in  general,  appears  from  the 
Office  of  the  Eucharist,  and  from  the  Visitation  of  the 
Sick,  then  drawn  up;  and  from  the  power  conferred  on 
Priests  in  the  ordination  services.  The  Homilies  drawn 
up  in  1562,  only  declared  this  Confession  and  Absolution 
not  essential  generally  to  the  pardon  of  sin,  but  this  does 
not  militate  against  its  desirableness  and  benefit  which 
the  Church  never  denied.  We  only  disused  the  Canon, 
'  omnes  utriusque  sexus  '  made  by  the  Synod  of  Lateran 
in  121 5;  and  for  good  reasons  restored  the  practice  of 
confession  to  the  state  it  was  in  previously,  when  it  was 
not  enjoined  at  a  particular  time  of  every  year.  The  al- 
teration was  only  in  a  matter  of  changeable  discipline." 

And  in  the  Dictionary  of  Doctrinal  and  Historical 
Theology,  p.  142,  2d  ed.,  Blunt,  under  the  head  of  Confes- 
sion we  read:  "Although  the  canons  of  the  mediaeval 
Church  of  England  respecting  confession  were  not 
actually  repealed,  their  compulsory  force  may  be  said  to 
have  lapsed  during  the  Reformation  period ;  and  (with- 
out any  word  indeed  depreciating  the  value  of  confes- 
sion) the  Church  of  England  habitually  reverted  to  the 
earlier  system  of  voluntary  confession.  The  authori- 
tative Anglican  statements  and  injunctions  respecting  it 
will  be  found  in  the  third  of  the  Ten  Articles  of  A.  D. 
1536;  in  The  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man,  and  its 
revised  form,  The  Erudition  for  any  Christian  Man; 
in  the  Exhortation  to  Communion,  and  the  office  for 
the  Visitation  of  the  Sick,  contained  in  the  various 
editions  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  from  A.  D. 
1549  to  A.  D.  1662,  and  in  the  113th  of  the  Canons  of 
A.  D.  1603.  From  these  documents  it  will  be  found 
that  the  ancient  system  of  '  auricular  *  or  private  confes- 
sion is  still  permitted,  and  in  some  cases  encouraged; 


26o  APPENDIX, 

and  that,  beyond  the  disuse  of  any  words  which  would 
imply  its  absolute  necessity  to  salvation,  there  is  nothing 
that  breaks  into  the  ancient  traditions  of  the  Church 
upon  the  subject.  The  opinion  of  all  those  divines,  who 
have  best  expressed  the  theology  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land as  distinguished  from  that  of  the  Dissenters,  have 
also  invariably  run  in  the  same  direction,  from  the  time 
of  Hooker  to  that  of  Keble." 

Quotations  to  the  same  effect  might  be  multiplied  almost 
indefinitely.  Suffice  it,  however,  to  mention  the  names 
of  a  few  distinguished  prelates  and  theologians  who  either 
simply  recommended  or  both  recommended  and  practised 
confession :  Bishop  Andrewes,  the  author  of  the  Answer 
to  Cardinal  Bellarmine;  Bishop  White,  author  of  the  Reply 
to  Fisher;  Dr.  Isaac  Barrow,  author  of  a  Treatise  against 
the  Supre7nacy  of  the  Pope;  Bishop  Sparrow,  one  of  the 
Savoy  Commissioners ;  Bishop  Beveridge,  Bishop  Berke- 
ley, Bishop  Home,  Bishop  Pearson,  author  of  the  Exposi- 
tion of  the  Creed ;  also  Heylin,  Bishop  Ken,  Archbishop 
Sharp,  author  of  "  Sermons  against  Popery;  "  Bishop  Hall, 
author  of  "  N'o  Peace  with  Rome  ;  "  Bishop  Forbes,  Isaac 
Williams,  Bishop  Grey,  Bishop  Milman,  Keble,  Pusey, 
Charles  Marriott,  and  Liddon. 

The  American  Church  speaking  by  her  formularies 
teaches  the  same  doctrine  of  Penance  that  the  Church 
of  England  does.  Besides  her  general  adherence  to 
the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  that  Church  declared 
in  the  Preface  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  she  ex- 
pressly inculcates  the  practice  of  penance.  She  recom- 
mends it  wherever  the  Church  of  England  does.  In 
one  case  she  absolutely  requires  it:  the  case  of  ex- 
communicated persons  seeking  to  be  reconciled  to  the 
Church. 


CONFESSION  AND  ABSOLUTION.  261 

The  XXXIII  Article  of  Religion  reads  as  follows : 
"That  person  which  by  open  denunciation  of  the 
Church  is  rightly  cut  off  from  the  Unity  of  the  Church 
and  excommunicated,  ought  to  be  taken  of  the  whole 
multitude  of  the  faithful  as  an  Heathen  and  Publican, 
until  he  be  openly  reconciled  by  penance,  and  received 
into  the  Church  by  a  Judge  that  hath  authority  there- 
unto." Commenting  on  this  Article  Bishop  Harold 
Browne  writes:  "  The  Church  of  England  is  clear  enough 
in  its  principles  though  restrained  in  her  practice.  This 
Article  speaks  plainly  her  doctrine."  Exposition  of  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  p.  773. 


It  seems  scarcely  necessary  to  say  that  the 
Church  Club  is  not  responsible  for  any  individual 
opinions  on  points,  not  ruled  by  the  Church, 
which,  the  learned  theologians  who  have  been 
good  enough  to  lecture  under  its  auspices,  may 
have  expressed. 


GENERAL  LIBRARY -U.C.  BERKELEY 


BOOOfl'JbO?! 


